Acculturative stress and influential factors among international students in China: a structural dynamic perspective

Stress represents a prominent aspect of modern life and is associated with numerous negative health consequences. International students are a key force in shaping globalization. However, these students often experience acculturative stress, influencing their health and well-being. The growing number of international students in China emerges as a new global health challenge and presents an opportunity to advance our understanding of acculturative stress. This study aims to investigate the acculturative stress of international students in China, and verify the mechanism and influential factors of acculturative stress. We analyzed survey data from 567 international students attending universities in Wuhan, China. We used a network-based analytical approach to assess the structure of the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students and used regression analysis to assess the relationships between acculturative stress and theoretically related factors. We found that higher levels of acculturative stress were reported by students from Asia and Africa than from other regions (Europe/America/Oceania). Lower acculturative stress was reported by unmarried students than others and by students well prepared than not well prepared. We verified seven acculturative stress subconstructs: rejection, identity threat, opportunity deprivation, self-confidence, value conflict, cultural competence, and homesickness; and discovered a three-dimensional network structure of these subconstructs. Our results suggest that acculturative stress was more common among international students in China than in developed countries. Acculturative stress was also more common among international students who did not well prepared, married, and belonged to an organized religion. African and Asian students' stress was higher than that for students from other regions. Acculturative stress prevention programs should seek to improve preparedness of the international students for studying abroad and pay extra attention to the high risk subgroups.