international student stress due in 20 hours

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, Vol. 17, No. L 1995

Measures of Life Stress and Social Support Specific to an Asian Student Population

Bin Yang 1 and George A. Clum 1 Accepted for publication: November 14, 1994

We designed two new measures--the Index o f Life Stress (ILS) and the Index o f Social Support (ISS)--to assist in the prediction o f cultural adjustment for an Asian international student population. In the present study, these two measures were administered to 101 Asian international students. Stability estimates over i month were high: .97 for the I L S and .81 for the ISS. Construct validity, assessed via factor analyses, and concurrent validity, assessed via regression analyses to criteria o f depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation were satisfactory. Incremental validity for these two measures relative to extant measures o f life stress and social support were computed. Results f r o m these analyses indicated that these two measures added incrementally to the prediction o f adjustment beyond that offered by existing measures. KEY WORDS: measures; cultural adjustment; international students; life stress; social support.

INTRODUCTION

The international student population in the United States has greatly increased during the past five decades. Before World War II, the United States had approximately 10,000 international students (Pruitt, 1976). How- ever, nearly 416,000 international students from more than 150 countries were studying in this country in 1991 (U.S. Department of Education, 1993, p. 345). In addition, these international students constitute a significant pro- portion o f students at all levels of education. For example, whereas the

IDepartment of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061.

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0882-2689/95/0300-0051507.50/0 © 1995 Plenum Publishing Corporation

52 Yang and Clum

percentage of total enrollment in institutions of higher education of inter- national students is 2.9% (U. S. Department of Education, 1993, p. 346), 11.0% of the master's degrees and 23.4% of the doctorate degrees are earned by these students (U.S. Department of Education, 1993, p. 335).

Among the entire population of international students in the United States, approximately 50% come from South and East Asia (Thomas & Althen, 1989). Whereas the prediction of the adjustment of this population to their new home is important, few studies have addressed this issue. Fur- ther, there are no instruments tailored to the issues of this population that may predict adjustment. The present study sought to remedy this short- coming by developing measures of stress and social support specific for this population.

Extant studies of American samples suggest a moderate relationship between life stress and depression (Bonner & Rich, 1988b, Friedrich, Reams, & Jacobs, 1982; Rich & Bonner, 1987; Rudd, 1990; Schotte & Clum 1982, 1987) and a moderate relationship between life stress and hopeless- ness (Bonner & Rich, 1988b; Rich & Bonner, 1987; Rudd, 1990; Schotte & Clum, 1982, 1987). Life stress has also been found to be related to sui- cide behavior. Early researchers have found that suicide attempters report four times as many negative life events in the 6 months preceding their attempts as do nonsuicidal individuals (Paykel, Prusoff, & Myers, 1975), a finding reported in other studies as well (Bonner & Rich, 1987, 1988a, 1988b; Dubow, Kauch, Blum, Reed, & Bush, 1989; Rich & Bonner, 1987; Rudd, 1990; Schotte & C h m , 1982, 1987).

Research of American samples has also found that social support is related to both depression and hopelessness (Bonner & Rich, 1987; Flan- nery & Wieman, 1989; Rich & Bonner, 1987). For example, Flannery and Wieman (1989) pointed out that social support had a significant buffering effect between life stress and depression. The relationship between social support and suicidal ideation is also well documented in the literature. Braucht (1979) found that the relationship between life stress and suicidal ideation may interact with a lack of social support. In another study (Trout, 1980), social isolation was found to be related directly to suicidal behaviors. In a community sample of junior high and high school students, Dubow e t al. (1989) found that suicidal ideation and attempts were associated with lower levels of family support. It has also been suggested that social isola- tion as a social risk factor should be targeted as a means to prevent suicidal behavior (Morgan, 1981).

Considering international students' special life circumstances, existing scales of stress and social support, such as the Life Experiences Survey (LES; Sarason, Johnson, & Siegel, 1978) and the U C L A Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Ferguson, 1980), respectively, may not reflect the

Stress and Social Support Measures 53

unique patterns of life stress and social support for this population, when using them to predict these students' adjustment. Thus, two new measures, the Index o f Life Stress (ILS) and Index of Social Support (ISS) were de- veloped to assess idiosyncratic aspects of life stress and social support for this population.

The Index of Life Stress (ILS) measures six areas of stress: (a) lan- guage difficulty, Co) cultural adjustment, (c) perceived racial discrimination, (d) academic concern, (e) financial concern, and (f) outlook for the future. The rationale for selecting items representative of each of these areas is as follows: (a) Though essential for their academic adjustment, the English language is not the native language for most international students from Asia. Previous research (Heath, 1970; Markham, 1967) has found English language proficiency is a more important determinant of international stu- dents' adjustment than age, sex, marital status, or education. Existing ac- c u l t u r a t i o n scales (Burnam, Hough, Karno, Escobar, & Telles, 1987; CueUar, Harris, & Jasso, 1980; Ghaffarian, 1987; Suinn, Riches-Figuring, Hew, & Vigil, 1987; Westermeyer, Neider, & Callies, 1989) all regard lan- guage as a very important aspect of cultural adaptation. (b) Cultural dif- ferences between Asia and America make cultural adjustment another area of international students' stress. For example, difficulties in accommodating to American food, music, holidays, religions, entertainment, and so forth, can be stressful for these students. The effects o f these difficulties have been observed in African students in the process of adapting to American society (Pruitt, 1978). Similar patterns are expected for Asian students. (c) Being in a society where one belongs to a minority group instead of a ma- jority group, these students can be assumed to be experiencing racial dis- c r i m i n a t i o n . T h e ILS samples racial d i s c r i m i n a t i o n in a v a r i e t y o f circumstances, including in school, shopping in stores, and eating in res- taurants. (d) Academic concerns were included because international stu- dents are in the new country for the major purpose of studying. Thus, they may have more academic pressure (Thomas & Althen, 1989) and may be more sensitive to their academic performance and relevant issues than the average American. (e) Although financial difficulty is an issue not unique to international students, it is still very special for these students because of immigration regulations which limit their ability to apply for financial aid programs and employment opportunities (Thomas & Althen, 1989). (f) Finally, outlook for the future was included because concerns about re- turning home, not being able to find jobs in the United States, and the possibility o f not being able to return home, were predicted to be stressful for these students.

The Index of Social Support (ISS) was developed based on the in- ternational students' special social contact patterns. Most international stu-

54 Yang a n d Clum

dents' family members and previous friends are not in the United States. Although long-distance contact with these people remains important, con- tact with new friends and supportive organizations and activities is believed to be equally essential. Also, as some researchers (Brownell & Shumaker, 1984) have suggested, social support is a complex p h e n o m e n o n , which in- cludes not only the quantity of social support but also the quality. There- fore, the ISS for international students assessed both the quality and the quantity of contact with (a) direct family (e.g., parents and siblings), (b) secondary families (e.g., uncles and aunts), (c) old friends in the h o m e country, (d) new friends in the United States, (e) churches, (f) school or- ganizations, (g) the international students center o n campus, and (h) com- munity activities. To obtain a comprehensive evaluation of social support, u n d e r each area of social support, respondents were to rate the meaning of the support to them, their level of trust and satisfaction toward the sup- port, and the availability of the support w h e n it is needed.

T h e present study describes the nature of these two instruments, re- liability estimates, concurrent, construct, and discriminant validity. Finally, incremental validity estimates to these criteria of adjustment were con- ducted using measures of stress and social support developed o n Western population samples.

METHOD

Subjects

A total of 101 international students born in Asia and holding student visas participated in this study. The students were recruited based o n their countries of origin, which were Asian. The inclusion of Asian countries was based on the classification provided in the World Almanac and Books o f Facts ( H o f f m a n et al., 1992, p. 822). These subjects were students at a Southeastern university. Twenty of these subjects were students enrolled in the Introductory Psychology course and the other 81 were recruited outside the course. T h e subjects ranged in age from 18 to 40 years, (M = 23.49, SD = 4.48). A m o n g this group, 73 were male and 28 were female. Their countries of origin included India (29), People's Republic of China (21), Indonesia (10), VietNam (9), South Korea (6), Taiwan (4), Malaysia (3), Philippines (3), Pakistan (3), H o n g Kong (2), Thailand (2), Iran (2), Japan (1), Singapore (1), Bangladesh (1), Sri .Lanka (1), Israel (1), L e b a n o n (1), and Turkey (1).

Even though having been in the United States for less than 7 years is the preferred criterion for subject recruiting, 65 subjects had b e e n in the

Stress and Social Support Measures 55

United States for less than 3 years, 18 between 3 and 6 years, and 18 more than 6 years. A series of t tests were conducted comparing subjects who had b e e n in this country for 6 years or less (n = 83) and those who had been in this country for more than 6 years (n = 18). No differences were found on their scores of suicide ideation (MSSI; Miller, Norman, Bishop, & Dow, 1986), depression (ZDS; Zug, 1965), hopelessness (BHS; Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974), life stress (LES; Sarason et al., 1978; ILS, see description below), and social support ( U C L A Loneliness Scale; Russell et aL, 1980; ISS, see description below). However, subjects who have b e e n in this country for more than 6 years were significantly younger (19.3 vs. 24.5; T = 9.02, p < .0001) than subjects who had b e e n here for 6 years or less.

Criteria Measures

Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI; Beck, Kovacs, & Weissman, 1989). This scale was given to a subset of individuals in the present study to validate the use of the self-report form of suicide ideation measure in this study. This 19-item scale was designed for assessing and quantifying the degree of suicide intent for suicide ideators. The scale is presented in an inter- view-rated format. Scores range from 0 to 38; higher scores indicate in- creasing levels of suicide intent. This scale has high internal consistency (KR-20 = .89) and interrater reliability (.83) as well as satisfactory levels of concurrent, discriminant, and construct validity (Beck et al., 1979). It is also sensitive to changes in suicidal intent with treatment (Beck et al., 1979). To provide a validity check on the MSSI (Miller et aL, 1986), the SSI was administered in order to 14 subjects who scored 4 or more a self-report measure of suicide ideation (the MSSI) and who agreed to be interviewed (another 8 subjects scored 4 or more on the MSSI but refused to take the SSI). A n interrater reliability estimate (kappa; Sattler, 1982) of the SSI was found to be .83 which indicates that the agreement level between two raters was acceptable (Sattler, 1982, p. 514). There were only seven interview cas- sette tapes (for seven ideators) available for this reliability check, because of having to conduct initial SSI interviews on the phone for four ideators, and equipment problems in three reliability interview.

Modified Scale for Suicide Ideation (MSSI; Miller et al., 1986). This 18-item instrument was modified from the SSI (Beck et aL, 1979) for use as a self-report instrument to assess the extent of suicidal ideation and in- tent. It has 13 items from the original SSI and 5 new items. Based on Miller et al.'s (1986) report, the items on the MSSI showed a high level of internal consistency (KR-20 = .94). Item-total correlations ranged from

56 Yang and C l u m

.41 to .83. The MSSI has reasonable concurrent validity, correlating sig- nificantly with the BDI (Beck & Beamesdeffer, 1974) suicide item (r = .60). In a sample of suicidal college students, the MSSI was found to cor- relate highly with the SSI (r = .76; Clum & Yang, in press). In the present study, the correlation between the MSSI and SSI was .89 (n = 14, p < .0001) which suggests that the self-report scores on the MSSI are consistent with the interview-based assessment of suicide ideation.

Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZDS). This 20-item scale devel- oped by Zung (1965) incorporates the affective, somatic, psychological, and physiological symptoms typical of depression. Each item is presented in a four-choice, anchored format, and half of the items are reverse scored. Based on the American college student norms, raw scores between 40 and 47 are in the "mild depression range," between 48 and 55 are in the "mod- erate depression range," and above 55 are in the "severe depression range." This scale possesses good discriminant validity, is sensitive to changes in level of depression as a result of treatment (Zung, 1965), and has been used extensively in the study of depression.

Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). This 20-item, true-false scale, was de- signed by Beck et aL (1974) as a measure of the degree to which an indi- viduars cognitive schemata are dominated by negative expectations toward the future. One half of the items are reverse scored, and total scores can range from 0 to 20, higher scores indicate increasing levels of hopelessness. Beck et aL (1974) demonstrated high internal consistency (KR-20 = .93) and relatively high levels of concurrent and construct validity for this scale.

Predictor Measures

Life Experiences Survey (LES). This scale (Sarason et aL, 1978) is a 57-item self-report measure of life stress that allows the respondent to in- dicate the occurrence of these experiences and three subject-specific expe- riences in the past 6 months or 1 year. Respondents are instructed to rate the desirability and impact of each of these events on a 7-point anchored scale ranging from -3 to +3. Summary scores can be computed for nega- tive, positive, and total life change for the previous 6 months or 1 year. This scale has moderate test-retest reliability (.63, .64) over 5- and 6-week test-retest intervals, and negative life change scores have been found to correlate in the expected direction with anxiety, academic achievement, so- cial desirability, personal maladjustment, depression, locus of control, and patient status (Sarason et aL, 1978). In the present study, subjects' report of negative impact from life change was used as their scores for the LES. High negative scores are reflective of high levels of life stress.

Stress and Social Support Measures 57

UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA). This scale was designed by Russell et al. (1980) for assessing perceived social support networks and degree of social integration. It has been used by researchers as a measure of social support in several studies (e.g. Bonner & Rich, 1987; Rich & Scovel, 1987). The scale comprises 20 statements, which the individual rates from never (1) to often (4) according to how often the individual "feels the way de- scribed in each statement." Higher total scores indicate higher levels o f loneliness. The internal consistency (KR-20) ranges from .91 to .94. Con- current validity has been established by showing that lonely people report emotions theoretically tied to loneliness (i.e., depression, emptiness, hope- lessness, and isolation), whereas emotions such as embarrassment, surprise, and creativity are not correlated with loneliness (Russell et aL, 1980). Dis- criminant validity has shown that the scale is not confounded by social de- sirability (r = -.203), but is related to affiliative motivation, social risk taking, and negative affect.

New Measures

Index o f Life Stress. The ILS was designed in this study for assessing the levels of stressful life events experienced by foreign students from Asia. This 31-statement scale requests individuals to rate each statement from never (0) to often (3) according to how often the individual "feels the way described in each statement." This measure assesses five areas of stressors for an international student population, including language difficulty, cul- tural adjustment, academic concerns, financial concerns, and outlook for the future. Higher scores reflect higher levels of life stress. Internal con- sistency reliability and test-retest reliability with a 1-month interval were obtained. Factor analysis was applied to explore the construct validity. Cor- relations with the LES scale were used to establish the concurrent validity. Incremental validity over the LES in predicting depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation was also determined. These psychometric properties are reported in the results section.

Index o f Social Support. The ISS was designed in this study for as- sessing the degree of social support for international students from Asia. This 40-statement scale requests an individual to rate each item from never (0) to often (3) according to how often the individual "feels the way de- scribed in each statement." Higher scores reflect higher levels of social sup- port. The scale assesses eight areas of social support: contacts with direct family, secondary family, old friends in the home country, new friends in the United States, churches, school organizations, the international student center on campus, and community activities. Moreover, under each area

58 Yang and Clum

of social support, the respondent rated the meaning of the support to them, their trust and satisfaction toward the support, and the availability of the support when it was needed. Internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability with a 1-month interval were obtained. Factor analysis was ap- plied to explore the construct validity. Correlations with the U C L A Lone- liness Scale were used to establish concurrent validity. Incremental validity over the U C L A in predicting depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation was also determined. These psychometric properties are reported in the Results section.

Procedure

Subjects were recruited by a sign-up sheet for Introductory Psychology students and via flyers sent to Asian students on campus. Students who were interested in this project were informed that if they were "Introduc- tory Psychology" students, they would get one to two extra credits for par- ticipating in the project, whereas subjects recruited outside the Introductory Psychology class (through flyers) were paid $10 for their participation. Sub- jects were provided with a consent form, which detailed the nature and purpose of the study, and were then given the following instruments: the two new m e a s u r e s - - t h e ILS and the ISS; LIES (Sarason et al., 1978); U C L A (Russell et al., 1980); MSSI (Miller et al., 1986); Z D S (Zung, 1965); and the B H S (Beck e t al., 1974). The testing session lasted from 1 to 2 hours. U p o n completion of the questionnaires, subjects' scores on the MSSI were screened by the first author. There were 22 subjects who indicated suicidal ideation during the past 2 weeks (score of 4 or more on the MSSI). To examine ff the international students' responses to the MSSI were valid, the SSI (Beck et al., 1979) was administered to those who scored 4 points or more on the MSSI and agreed to be interviewed (n = 14). These stu- dents' SSI scores were then correlated with their scores on the MSSI. A correlation of .89 (p < .0001) was obtained.

In addition, during the assessment, 20 subjects of the total sample were selected randomly and requested to complete the ILS and ISS 1 month after the first assessment in order to obtain stability estimates on these measures. All of these 20 subjects came back and completed these two measures again.

In the testing sessions, the subjects were examined in small groups, with 5 to 8 subjects in each. This small-group format was employed in order to monitor subjects' completion of the assessment materials closely and to answer their questions effectively (even though the subjects turned out to be able to answer all questions without great difficulty). Students who

Stress and Social Support Measures 59

s c o r e d high o n t h e Z D S (38) a n d / o r on the MSSI (4) w e r e r e f e r r e d to the university counseling services.

R E S U L T S

A s u m m a r y o f correlations, means, and s t a n d a r d deviations o f all p r e - d i c t o r a n d criteria measures is listed in Table I. As indicated, c o r r e l a t i o n s a m o n g t h e criteria measures w e r e m o d e r a t e (.46 t o .60), indicating t h at a l t h o u g h t h e r e was overlap a m o n g these measures, t h e y w ere m e a s u r i n g d i f f e r e n t constructs. Correlations b e t w e e n p r e d i c t o r a n d criteria measures, with t h e exception o f tha t b e t w e e n t h e ISS and MSSI, w e r e all significant.

T h e m e a n o n t h e depression scale ( M = 37.89, SD = 9.04) f o r this s a mp l e is c o m p a r a b l e to that f o r Z u n g ' s (1972) A m e r i c a n college sample ( M = 39, SD = 9). T h e m e a n o n t h e hopelessness scale ( M = 4.35, SD = 3.77) f o r this sample, however, is high e r than t h a t f o r an A m e r i c a n col- lege sample ( M = 2.05, SD = 1.94) (Wood, Silverman, Gentilini, Cunning- h a m , & Gr i ege r , I991). Similarly, the m e a n on the suicide ide ation scale ( M = 2.50, SD = 6.07) is h i g h e r t h a n that f o r an A m e r i c a n college sample ( M = 1.5, SD = 3.50) (Priester & Clum, 1993).

Stability coefficients w e r e o b t a i n e d f o r b o t h t h e I L S a n d ISS. T h e t e s t - r e t e s t reliability with a 1-month interval f o r t h e ILS was .87 (n = 20)

Table I. Correlations, Means and Standard Deviations of All Predictor and Criterion Variables (N = 101)

Modified Index of Life Index of U C L A Zing's Beck Scale for

Life Experience S o c i a l Loneliness Depression Hopelessness Suicide Stress S u r v e y support Scale Scale S c a l e Ideation (ILS) (LES) (ISS) ( U C L A ) (ZDS) ( B H S ) (MSSI)

LES -.46*** -- ISS -.16 .16 -- UCLA .51"** -.38*** -.39*** -- ZDS .41"** -.52*** -.39*** .58*** BHS .37*** -.30** -.46*** .42*** MSSI . 2 1 " -.40*** -.14 .33*** M 36.63 -9.63 67.91 42.68 SD 13.49 8.72 18.40 11.77

.60***

.62*** .46*** -- 37.89 4.35 2.50 9.04 3.77 6.07

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

60 Yang and Clum

Table IL Regression Summary Table of New Measure o f Life Stress 0]-.S) to Criteria of Depression, Hopelessness, and Suicide Ideation,

After LES was forced into the Model

Dependent measures Partial R 2 F d f p

Criterion: Depression LES .27 36.43 1,98 .0001 ILS .04 5.95 1,97 .0165 Total R 2 .31

Criterion: Hopelessness LES .09 9.91 1,98 .0022 ILS .07 7.68 1,97 .0067 Total R 2 .16

LES .16 Total R 2 .16

Criterion: Suicide ideation a 18.86 1,98 .0001

aThe new measure ( K S ) had no additional contribution significant at .05 level in predicting suicide ideation.

and for the ISS was .81 (n = 20). The intemal consistency estimate (KR-20) was .86 (n = 101) for the ILS, and .81 (n = 100) for the ISS.

The concurrent validity of the ILS as measured by the correlation between the ILS and the LES was r(100) = -.46, p < .0001. The concur- rent validity of the ISS as measured by the correlation between the ISS and the U C L A was r(100) = -.39, p < .0001.

Incremental validity was assessed by conducting separate hierarchical regression analyses to each criterion measure. In the first set, LES was entered first and the ILS second to determine if ILS added significantly to the prediction of each criterion beyond that offered by the LES. As can be seen in Table II, the ILS added significantly to the prediction of de- pression and hopelessness, but not to suicide ideation. This same procedure was followed using the U C L A and the ISS to predict each of the criteria. As Table III indicates, the ISS added significantly to the prediction of de- pression and hopelessness, but not suicide ideation beyond that offered by the U C L A .

Construct validity in the ILS and ISS was assessed via factor analyses. The principle components method and varimax rotation were employed in a series of factor analyses on the ILS, A factor loading level o f .40 was used as the cutoff criterion to identify factor items. Based on the eigen- values, variances explained by each factor, and interpretability of each fac- tor, a five-factor solution appeared to be most meaningful for the ILS (see

Stress and Social Support Measures

Table IlL Regression Summary Table of the New Measure of Social Support (ISS) to Criteria of Depression, Hopelessness, and Suicide Ideation, After U C L A

Loneliness Scale was Forced into the Model

Dependent measures Partial R 2 F d f p

Criterion: Depression U C L A .33 49.82 1,99 .0001 ISS .03 4.84 1,98 .0301 Total R z .36

Criterion: Hopelessness U C L A .18 21.56 1,98 .0001 ISS .11 14.27 1,97 .0003 Total R 2 .29

Criterion: Suicide ideation a U C L A .11 12.03 1,99 .0008 Total R 2 .11

aThe new measure (ISS) had no additional contribution significant at .05 level in predicting suicide ideation.

61

Table IV). These factors were titled: 1. Concern A b o u t Finances and Desire to Stay in the United States; 2. Language Difficulties; 3. Interpersonal Stress; 4. Stress from cultural adjustment and desire to return to one's own country; and 5. Academic pressure. Internal consistency estimates (KR-20) for each of the above factors are as .80, .79, .82, .70, and .75, respectively. These factors accounted for 52.21% of the variance.

In a similar vein, the principle components method and varimax ro- tation were employed in a series of factor analyses on the ISS. A factor loading level of .40 was used as the criterion to identify factor items. Based on the eigenvalues, variances explained by each factor, and interpretability of each factor, a four-factor solution appeared to be most meaningful for the ISS (see Table V). Factor analysis of the Index of Social Support showed that 36 o f 40 items loaded on four factors: 1. General Contact with One's Own Culture (contact with old friends in home countries, secondary family, and the international center on campus; 2. Contact with Local Community and Student Organizations; 3. Contact with New Friends in the U.S. and Direct Family; and 4. Contact with Religious Places (e.g., Churches). In- ternal consistency estimates (KR-20) for each factor are .90, .87, .83, and .86, respectively. These factors accounted for 51.91% of the variance.

62 Yang and Clum

Table IV. Items Loading o n Factors on the Index of Life Stress Correlations

Factor Item/ Item/ loading factor total

Factor 1. C o n c e r n A b o u t Finance a n d Desire to Stay in the U.S. 16. I worry about whether I will have my future career

in the U.S.A. .59 .74 .50 22. I worry about my financial situation. .73 .73 .51 25. My financial situation influences my academic study. .76 .70 .44 26. I worry a b o u t my future: will I r e t u r n to my home

country or stay in the U.S.A. .62 .77 .50 28. I d o n ' t want to return to my home country, but I may

have to do so. .46 .55 .21 31. My financial situation makes my life here very hard. .76 .73 .52

Factor 2. l a n g u a g e Difficulties 1. My English embarrasses me w h e n I talk to people. .79 .81 .49 7. My English makes it hard for me to r e a d articles, books, etc. .78 .77 .40 8. It's h a r d for me to develop opposite-sex relationships here. .49 .62 .47

20. I c a n ' t express myself well in English. 87 .88 .44 29. My English makes it h a r d for me to understand lectures. .82 .79 .39

Factor 3. Interpersonal Stress 5. I can feel racial discrimination toward me from other students. .70 .70 .47

11. People treat me badly just because I am a foreigner. .67 .69 .47 13. I think t h a t people are very selfish here. .51 .73 .54 15. I can feel racial discrimination toward me in stores. .69 .60 .28 19. I can feel racial discrimination toward me from professors. .62 .57 .51 24. I can feel raeial discrimination toward me in restaurants. .72 .70 .46

Factor 4. Stress from New Culture and Desire to R e t u r n to O n e ' s Own Country 2. I d o n ' t like t h e religions in the U.S.A. .62 .53 .31 4. I worry about whether I will have my future career in

my own country. .51 .56 .43 10. I d o n ' t like American food. .45 .70 .46 14. I d o n ' t like the things people do for their entertainment

here. .63 .70 .49 17. Americans' way of being too direct is uncomfortable to me. .50 .33 .49 23. I d o n ' t like American music. .45 .67 .46 27. I h a v e n ' t became used to enjoying the American holidays. .40 .68 .53 30. I want to go back to my home country in the future, but I

may not b e able to do so. .45 .47 .43

Factor 5. Academic Pressure 3. I worry about my academic performance. .75 .80 .46 6. I ' m n o t doing as well as I want to in school. .70 .65 .19 9. I d o n ' t like the ways people treat each other here. .52 .59 .41

18. I study very h a r d in order not to disappoint my family. .51 .74 .64 21. I t would b e the biggest shame for me if I fail in school. .58 .82 .55

Stress and Social Support Measures 63

Table V. Items Loading o n Factors on the Index of Social Support

Correlations

Factor Item/ Item/ loading factor total

Factor 1. G e n e r a l Contact with One's Own Culture 3. I have contact with my old friends in my home country. .71 9. I trust my secondary families (uncles, aunts, etc.). .44

i0. I trust the international student center o n campus. .72 13. My secondary families (uncles, aunts, etc.) are available

w h e n I n e e d them. .59 14. I a m satisfied with my old friends in my home country. .75 16. I have contact with the international student center .64

o n campus. 17. My old friends in my home country are availabe w h e n

I n e e d them. .73 22. I trust my old friends in my home country. .69 24. My secondary families (uncles, aunts, etc.) mean a lot to me. .41 28. I a m satisfied with the international student center o n campus. .77 29. I am satisfied with my secondary families (uncles, aunts, etc.). .45 36. T h e international center o n campus is available when

I n e e d it. .67 37. My old friends in my home country m e a n a lot to me. .73 38. The international student center on campus means a lot to me. .67

Factor 2. Contact with Local Community and Student Organizations 4. Community activities here m e a n a lot to me. .64 5. I a m satisfied with student organizations o n campus. .62

18. I have contact with student organizations o n campus. .71 20. I participate in community activities here. .68 25. I trust the people I meet in community activities. .46 32. The student organizations o n campus are available when

I n e e d them. .72 34. People I meet in community activities are availabe w h e n

I n e e d them. .65 35. Student organizations o n campus m e a n a lot to me. .77 39. I am satisfied with community activities here. .71 40. I trust student organizations o n campus. .64

Factor 3. Contact with New Friends in the U.S. and Direct Family 2. My new friends in the U.S.A. are available when I need them. .69 6. I trust my family. .51 8. I trust my new friends in the U.S.A. .68

19. My family is available when I need it. .55 21. I am satisfied with my new friends in the U.S.A. .71 26. My new friends in the U.S.A. m e a n a lot to me. .79 31. I have contact with my new friends in the U.S.A, .76

Factor 4. Contact with the Religious Places (e.g., Churches) 12. I trust my church (or any religious place) here. .77 23. I have contact with my church (or any religious place) here. .86 27. My church (or any religious place) here means a lot to me. .88 30. I a m satisfied with my church (or any religious place) here. .89 33. My church (or any religious place) here is available w h e n

I n e e d it. .81

,69 .29 .54 .47 .72 .46

.67 .60

.71 .32

.60 .40

.72 .41

.67 .33

.54 .61

.78 .61

.59 .62

.66

.73

.67

.69

.65

.69

.68

.54

.70

.67

.78

.75

.67

.76

.47

.77

.59

.74

.82

.78

.81

.89

.91

.91

.32

.57

.44

.62

.50

.43

.42

.35

.31

.45

.46

.53

.46

.48

.41

.34

.37

.33

.41 ,39 .39

.41

.37

.50

.34

.40

64 Yang and C l u m

DISCUSSION

The present study describes the development of two self-report in- struments, designed to assess aspects of stress and social support unique to Asian international students. Results from this study indicate that the Index of Life Stress and the Index of Social Support are valid measures with satisfactory psychometric properties. Internal consistency reliability and stability coefficients are within acceptable limits. In addition, because the two new measures significantly added incremental validity in predicting depression and hopelessness beyond that provided by the Life Experiences Survey and the U C L A Loneliness Scale, it suggests that these two measures assess aspects of stress and social support not measured by the LES and the U C L A .

For the Index of Life Stress, the five factors that constitute this meas- ure are similar to the six areas initially conceptualized as defining this meas- ure. The structure identified in the factor analysis combined some items of financial difficulty and concern about future ("concern about being able to stay in the United States") into Factor 1: Concern A b o u t Finance and Desire to Stay in the United States. Also, some items of cultural adjustment and of concerns about future were combined into Factor 4: Stress from N e w Culture and Desire to Return to One's Own Country. In addition, items of racial discrimination and some items of cultural adjustment were constituted Factor 3: Interpersonal Stress.

For the Index of Social Support, the four factors found to constitute this measure combined eight of the contact areas into four. Specifically, contact with secondary family, old friends in one's home country, and in- ternational centers were combined into one factor ("general contact with one's own culture"); contact with local community and student organiza- tions were combined into a second factor; contact with new friends in the United States and direct family were combined into a third factor; and contact with religious places (e.g., churches) was identified as a fourth fac- tor.

Given the fact that the assessment was administered in English and that the criterion measures of adjustment are not normed on an Asian population, the results of the present study should be interpreted with cau- tion. In addition, the preferred criterion for subject recruiting--being in the United States for 7 years or less--might have excluded potential sub- jects and was therefore not adhered to in subject selection.

Whereas it is possible that language difficulties resulted in the ob- served differences between this sample and normative data on American college samples, these differences are more likely attributed to the fact that these international students are going through cultural adjustment in ad-

Stress and Social Support Measures 65

dition to daily life stress shared by the domestic population. In addition, evidence from the present study supports the reliability of these measures. For example, in the present study, the interrater reliability on the SSI (kappa = .83) and the high concurrent validity estimate of the MSSI based on its correlation with the SSI (r = .89) suggest these suicide ideation meas- ures are reliable and valid for this population. Further, the construct validity as reflected in the correlation between the MSSI and ZDS (.62) falls into the moderate range that is similar to the correlation (r = .45) from another study in our laboratory on an American college sample (Clum & Yang, in press). Further, the correlation between the MSSI and BHS (.46) in the present study is similar to results from an American college sample (.46, Clum & Yang, in press) and an American psychiatric sample (.42, Miller e t al., 1986). Thus, the pattern of relationships obtained in the present study is consistent with results from studies of American samples and indicates that some faith can be placed in the results o f the present study. In addi- tion, a small-group format (5-8 subjects per group) was used in order to address subjects' language difficulties while completing the assessment bat- tery. This procedure and the fact that these students are enrolled in an American university where English is the official language for all students likely reduced the effect of responding to questionnaires in what was, for most, not their native language.

The results of the present study have implications for helping Asian international students improve their adjustment when studying in foreign countries. For example, because difficulties understanding and using the English language have been shown to be an important source of their life stress, it is likely that increasing international students' proficiency in Eng- lish prior to arrival would improve their adjustment to the new environ- ment. Also, overcoming language difficulties may improve international students' ability to develop new friendships in their adopted country. More- over, because being able to contact individuals from one's culture is another important source of social support, related educational facilities (e.g., in- ternational students center, international club) may serve to enhance such contact by providing opportunities for these students to build friendships with individuals from their own culture.

O n e additional finding from the present study is that these Asian in- ternational students seemed more hopeless and suicidal than their Ameri- can counterparts as observed in other studies, and yet not more depressed. This may reflect the fact that hopelessness and depressive symptoms are independent responses to stress (Schotte & Clum, 1982, 1987). It may also reflect the possibility that Asian international students respond to stress by becoming more hopeless and suicidal rather than by becoming more de- pressed.

66 Yang and Clum

Finally, more studies are needed to further understand the cultural adjustment o f this population and other international students populations. In addition, comparison studies among domestic and international students will be helpful, as well as longitudinal studies in this area.

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