@article{e03a410e9ef44829a939852990516c42,
title = "The hidden minority: Discrimination and mental health among international students in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic",
abstract = "International students in the US occupy a precarious position at the intersection of immigration policy and global education mobility, one made more challenging by the disparate impact of COVID-19 on college students{\textquoteright} mental health. Few studies, however, have explored the pandemic's effects on mental well-being among the international student population in the US. Our study aims to provide initial empirical evidence on the mental health status of these students, with a specific focus on discrimination, loneliness, anxiety, and depression. We propose a mediation framework and estimate the mediating effects of loneliness and anxiety in the relationships between discrimination and depression in a sample of US-based international students (N = 103). We collected cross-sectional data from July to August 2020, using a 50-item online survey instrument with three open-ended questions. Mediation analyses using PROCESS Macro were used to analyse quantitative data and thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Findings showed that higher levels of discrimination were significantly associated with higher levels of loneliness. Higher levels of loneliness were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety, which in turn led to high levels of depressive symptoms. Our study contributes to understanding the needs and capacities of international students in the wake of COVID-19 and simultaneously provides pragmatic program and policy implications for inclusive higher education environments and the overall health and well-being of this crucial US student population.",
keywords = "COVID-19, United States, anxiety, depressive symptoms, discrimination, geography, international students, loneliness, mental health",
author = "Arati Maleku and Kim, {Youn Kyoung} and Jaclyn Kirsch and Um, {Mee Young} and Hanna Haran and Mansoo Yu and Moon, {Sung Seek}",
note = "Funding Information: The findings of our study also support previous studies that describe international students as operating in transnational spaces – in between two cultures (Maleku et al., 2021 ). They study in a host country that does not embrace their cultural differences and norms, while their friends and family in their home countries often misunderstand their changing identities. This creates a feeling of {\textquoteleft}spiritual homelessness{\textquoteright}, where international students feel they do not belong in either space (Maleku et al., 2021 ). Our findings show that international students who lived with their families were grateful for family support but also had difficulty negotiating their personal space, which negatively impacted their work and potentially contributed to feelings of spiritual homelessness. Findings identified several unique stressors and needs, including financial stressors, safety concerns, challenges with everyday essentials like food, lack of support from universities, visa support, experience with discrimination, and need for mental health support and engagement. Identified modes of support included friends and classmates, universities, mental health services, financial aid and fellowship, student organisations, governments from their home countries, spiritual support from churches, the opportunity to work remotely, and the host family system. These students{\textquoteright} prolonged challenges, feelings of discrimination, and loneliness, perpetuated by the COVID‐19 pandemic and pandemic othering, will have a long‐term impact on their mental well‐being, which may have ripple effects on the higher education community as a whole. This worrying trend certainly warrants urgent attention. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",
year = "2022",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1111/hsc.13683",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "30",
pages = "e2419--e2432",
journal = "Health and Social Care in the Community",
issn = "0966-0410",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "5",
}