The mental health of foreign students

Because of the psychological stress associated with university life and the physical and mental stress associated with migration, researchers have become interested in psychological problems of foreign students. In this study four groups of foreign students from different parts of the world were compared with two British groups on a self-report measure of mental health. No sex differences were found yet the overseas students, as a whole, showed significantly more disturbance than either British control or first-year subjects. However, despite many differences between their countries of origin there were no significant differences between any of the overseas groups on the total scale score or any sub-scores. Further, with the exception of Malaysian students, the British subjects were significantly more satisfied with their social lives than the other groups. These findings are discussed in terms of the literature on life events and illness, culture shock and migration and mental health.