Saher Fatteh

Annotated Bibliography
Daya S. Sandhu, Badiolah R. Asrabadi (1994). Development of
An Acculturative Stress Scale For International Students:
Preliminary Findings. Retrived From
http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pr0.1994.75.1.435
Daya Sandhu from the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the
University of Louisville and Badiolah Asrabadi from the Department of Mathematics at
Nicholls State University teamed up to write this article for the Psychological Reports.
The piece aims at creating a scale on which to determine acculturative stress for
International students. This scale was created to aid mental health practitioners when
counseling International students. The study involved the creation of an acculturative
scale and its distribution to 130 schools that had 300 International students or more. The
study found that there were six main factors to why International students feel alienated:
1) No reciprocation on the part of American students to become friends
2) Homesickness
3) Perceived hate
4) Fear of surroundings
5) Stress to due to change or culture shock
6) Guilt
I found the fact that guilt was a major factor was interesting and indicated the
International students strong ties to their communal culture.
Sakurako Mori (2011, December 23). Addressing the Mental
Health Concerns of International Students. Journal of
Counseling and Development. Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.15566676.2000.tb02571.x/abstract
Sakurako Mori, a doctoral student in the Counseling and Clinical School of
Psychology doctoral program at the University of California at Santa Barbara, wrote this
piece for the Journal of Counseling and Development in the Spring of 2000 as part of
research to better understand the challenges that International students studying at an
American university can face. Out of the various challenges that Mori discovered; there
was one that I had not considered. He spoke of the hindrances involved when
International students seek counseling. First, there is usually a difference in the belief of
what constitutes defective mental health in America and the students country of origin.
In most countries, there is one doctor who will solve all problems at once. Having to go
to a doctor simply to talk is a foreign concept to most. In addition, Mori states that in
some cultures having a mental health illness is something to be ashamed of and has a

stigma attached. Mori implores universities to look into counseling services that are
culturally sensitive.
Lijuan Zhai (2002). Studying International Students:
Adjustment Issues and Social Support. Retrieved From:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED474481.pdf
Although this article highlights many of the challenges faced by international students as
they adjust to life as an college student in America, I found the statistics about the surge
of international students in America in the past few years to be the most interesting. One
statistic, from Open Doors 2002, stated that the international student enrollment
increased by nearly 30% across every type of higher education institution years since
1993 (Davis, 2002). In addition, Even though international students only constituted 4%
of Americas total college student population, the economic impact of their presence
contributed $12 billion to the U.S. economy translating into one million jobs in the
United States due to the fact that three quarters (75%) of international students received
most of their funding for U.S. study from sources outside the United States (Davis,
2002; Desruisseaux, 1996). Researchers also found that the international students offered
an important diversity of viewpoints to the student body and helped offset a declining US
applicant pool in certain disciplines (Goodman, 1996; Wan, Chapman & Biggs, 1992). For
the purpose of this research, I think that it is important to understand the factors that
played a role in creating larger international student communities on campuses across
America.
Madonna Constantine, Sumie Okazaki, Shawn Utsey (2004).
Self-Concealment, Social Self-Efficacy, Acculturative
Stress, and Depression in African, Asian, and Latin
American International College Students. American Journal
of Orthopsychiatry. Retrieved from:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1037/00029432.74.3.230/asset/00029432.74.3.230.pdf?v=1&t=hti11mrb&s=d92b3e608e93c9d7886b7e5c
6165908e0eb9ceee
Three professors at different universities wrote this piece for the American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry to study the effects of social integration on International
Students of an African, Asian, or Latin American background. Similar to in Sakurako
Zoris piece, they discussed that English language proficiency was a major challenge for
International students. They also commented on the contrast of the individualistic and
autonomous culture here and the communal culture in the countries that most
International Students come from. Like Zori, they also mentioned the stigmas associated
with counseling in the International students cultures. One part of the article that aided
my research was the fact that some International students may not seek counseling or
seek social support from friends or family because they do not wish to be a burden. They
express self-concealment and do not express their anxieties and stress, which is
ultimately detrimental to their physical and mental health.

Maureen Andrade (2006). International students in English

speaking universities: Adjustment factors. Journal of
Research in International Education. Retrieved from:
http://jri.sagepub.com/content/5/2/131.full.pdf+html
This article was written for the Journal of Research in International Education by
Maureen Snow Andrade of Brigham Young University. Similar to the other articles, this
piece goes into the difficulty of adjusting for international students and sites a language
barrier and a cultural change as major differences. Unlike the other articles, however, this
article gives the prospective of professors. Surprisingly, at the school in which the
students were surveyed, it was found that the professors did not realize that the students
psychological and social stresses were playing a role in their ability to learn. Professors
felt that the students were being passive about their education while students felt the
professors were indifferent.
Mark Sherry, Peter Thomas, and Wing Hong Chui (2010):
International students: a vulnerable student population. Higher
Education, Vol. 60, No. 1 (July 2010), pp. 33-46 Retrieved from:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40784044.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
This article examined the International student population at the University of Toledo,
where International students comprise 10% of the student population. One important
observation that I took away from the research was that many of the International
students involved in the study emphasized the presence of spoken language barriers as
more prominent than written language barriers. This was interesting because I thought
that many international students who faced a challenging language barrier might feel as
though American students had an advantage academically. Many students commented on
a need for workshops that would teach American idioms, or just place international
students with American students as a conversation partner to help them learn English.
After conducting research last year on this topic, I found that many of the students
expressing difficulty with adjusting to the language stated that they would benefit from a
language partner and language workshops.
Lisa Moores, Natalee Popadiuk (2011) Positive Aspects of
International Student Transitions: A Qualitative Inquiry.
Journal of College Student Development Retrieved from:
http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.emory.edu/journals/journal_of_college_student_d
evelopment/v052/52.3.moores.html
This article was particularly significant because, unlike the other articles that only
focused on the negative effects of being an international student in America, this
article chose to show the positive benefits. This article identified a gap in the
research, and explained that because many of the research done on international
students in America is from a mental health or psychological perspective, the
research may be biased and show only the negative aspects of the experience. The
research done in this study showed that although at times the experience could be
difficult for international students, in the end, these challenges were overcome and

students felt more positive feelings than negative about their ability to overcome
obstacles induced by cultural differences, language barriers, etc.