Originally my research proposal was looking into anxiety and stress levels among university students, in which I was curious to find out if feelings of nervousness led to a lack of participation in tutorials. Nevertheless, since beginning my online research, I have found that my curiosity has shifted towards focusing on a specific group of university students but still with a similar approach to what I had originally proposed. So with a clearer vision in mind, I want to research if international students experience higher levels of anxiety & mental health issues than domestic students- in hopes to learn what factors may contribute to international students experiencing higher levels of anxiety when studying at university.
Things that I thought may contribute to higher levels of anxiety were: loneliness, adjusting to a new social environment, cultural shock.
The reason why I made some adjustments from my original research question was to make it easier for myself. When it comes to collecting primary data my question eliminates a number of people, therefore allowing me to receive answers from a much smaller group of people. There would only be a handful of international students among the BCM cohort, so when it comes to writing my report I won’t have to spend hours going through a bunch of data as there will only be a few who can participate in taking my survey. For me, knowing exactly who I need to talk to makes writing my report less daughtening as I won’t be overwhelmed with numerous responses and wasting time struggling to make a start.
I think my topic’s relevance is shown in the department of education (international student data monthly summary) study which shows the number of international students in Australia to be 673,296 in october 2018.
The comparison between 2017-18 shows a substantial increase in the number of international students.
Similarly, another recent study of international students in Australia released showed the majority of international students are studying in the higher education sector with enrolment numbers rising 16% per cent each year since 2012. With international students making up a very large number of students and Australian universities I think it’s important to research the correlation between increased anxiety among international students as we can only assume there will be more and more cases over the coming years. I believe anxiety is a contemporary issue in society and by the end of my research I hope to have a better insight into the causes and effects surrounding this group people.
I also noted from this study that Chinese students were among the most popular group of people to enrol in Australian universities.
To further support these statistics I found an article published by Kylie Redfern in 2015 called “An empirical investigation of the incidence of negative psychological symptoms among Chinese international students at an Australian university” where her findings concluded that Chinese students reported significantly higher levels of anxiety than their Australian counter partners. Her analysis pointed me towards a specific minority group that I could focus on, which would allow me to conduct surveys with a small sample size of individuals who are relevant to my topic. The qualitative data collected in her report suggested that chinese students were more likely to experience ‘moderate’ to ‘severe’ levels of stress and anxiety compared to domestic students who reported ‘low’ to ‘moderate’ levels. I will be interested to see if my findings are similar.
Lastly, the study “international students’ emotional security and dignity in an australian context: An aspect of psychological well-being written by David Hall & Noparat Tananurasksakul suggested that due to culture, language and academic barriers international students are at a higher risk of mental ill-health than domestic students. Recent studies have shown that international students transitioning into a new, unfamiliar environment are more susceptible to experiencing psychological stress. The primary issues involve trouble in linguistic and cultural disorientation where students felt their university experience was “uncertain” and “unpredictable” which led to feelings of nervousness and anxiety. The report relies heavily on collecting data through qualitative research methods, conducting in-depth face-to-face interviews to get their results which is how I plan on structuring mine. Their findings showed individuals reported a lack of emotional security and feelings of insecurity when they commenced their studies. One participant said he felt “insecure and frustrated in a new environment” and felt stressed trying to achieve high marks because he didn’t understand the assessments. According to (Andrade,2006) “failure to adjust to the new social environment impinges on their psychological well-being and affects their academics, leaving students feeling stressed, anxious and lonely.” Overall, what I have gained from this study is the adoption of the english language constitutes learning challenges for students.
What I have learnt so far is international students may experience more anxiety related to understanding academic assessments than domestic students because of their inability to communicate in english – this being the fundamental cause for anxiety among students. Research has shown there to be many factors that contribute to this vicious cycle of stress which means I have the opportunity to pick a few areas to focus on when writing my report.
References:
Hall, D. and Tananuraksakul, N., 2011. International students’ emotional security and dignity in an Australian context: An aspect of psychological well-being. Sage Journals, Vol 10(Issue 2).
Internationaleducation.gov.au. 2018. International Student Data 2018. [online] Available at: <https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/InternationalStudentData2018.aspx>
Redfern, K., 2015. An empirical investigation of the incidence of negative psychological symptoms among Chinese international students at an Australian university. Australian Journal of Psychology, 68(4), pp.281-289.
Studies in Australia. 2017. International Students In Australia | Study In Australia. [online] Available at: <https://www.studiesinaustralia.com/studying-in-australia/why-study-in-australia/international-students-in-australia>
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