Background of the Study

Since 1980s, international students have played an essential role in the phenomenon of internationalization of higher education (Arthur, 2004; Chen, 2011). In order to hone national competitiveness and attract talented people worldwide, more and more countries have created an international student-friendly learning environment by providing international courses (Chang, 2007). Since 2004, school assessments conducted by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan have included measurements of the level of internationalization. The Ministry of Education has implemented projects, such as Aiming for the Top University, Elite Research Center Development Plan, and The Taiwan Fellowships & Scholarships (TAFS, 2012) program, in order to encourage universities to enroll international students (Huang, 2008). As a result, the number of international students has increased from 27023 to 92685 people over 10 years, including students from degree programs, non-degree Mandarin Language Enrichment Programs (LEP), and exchange students (Department of Statistics, Ministry of Education, 2015).

As the number of international students in Taiwan has grown rapidly, the issue of those students’ life circumstance in Taiwan has become increasingly important (Huang, 2008). To effectively help them adjust to a new culture, helping professionals must first understand what problems they, as a group, encounter before we can begin to enhance cross-cultural sensitivity. Otherwise, any program or policy could simply waste time and resources, or even aggravate problems. Therefore, this study undertakes a quantitative assessment of international students’ mental health status and the potential difficulties they might experience in Taiwan, in order to advise the public on how best to serve the international student population.

1.1.1 Concept of international students

As a multicultural perspective, international students from diverse ethnicities were all included in this study. However, the group overseas Chinese students needs to be clarified. Based on regulations, overseas Chinese students are defined as those who are identified as Chinese, were born overseas and resided there until the present time, or have stayed out of Taiwan for more than six consecutive years and have a permanent or long-term residence certificate (Regulations Regarding Study and Counseling Assistance for Overseas Chinese Students in Taiwan, 2014). Despite the Taiwanese government sometimes classifying overseas Chinese as international students (Number of Colleges Overseas Students Studying, 2014) and sometimes not (TAFS, 2012; International Students Undertaking Studies in Taiwan, 2014) this research includes them for the following reasons:

First, from the perspective of acculturation, there is considerable evidence suggesting that overseas Chinese people encounter some multicultural difficulties when they come to Taiwan for study. For example, Chiang (2003) and Hung (2009) found that due to differences in economic status and the educational system between their home country and Taiwan, overseas Chinese students, despite having a similar cultural and linguistic background, often have great difficulty maintaining their schoolwork, and must also take several part-time jobs in order to survive in Taiwan. Meanwhile, unfair discrimination, lack of social support, and language barriers such as unable to recognize Taiwanese accents and deficiency in expressing themselves in classes, are also common barriers for these international students when adapting to Taiwanese culture. Because these barriers are also found among other international students (Huang, 2008; Shih, 2006), it can then be concluded that overseas Chinese students encounter a process of acculturation similar to that of other international students.

Second, when it comes to cultural-identity, whether overseas Chinese people share

the same ethnicity as Taiwanese people or not is controversial. For example, Li (2008) pointed out that for some Malaysian- and Indonesian-Chinese students, they actually identify themselves as Chinese. They also accept the concept of belonging to the same ethnicity as Taiwanese people. However, legally, they identify themselves as citizens of Malaysia/Indonesia, and they do not feel that coming to Taiwan is returning to their country of origin. Instead, they often perceive their residence in Taiwan as going to an alien place, culturally dissimilar to their homeland. Therefore, despite how government policy labels them, Malaysian-Chinese students would rather be considered as international students (Chen, 2006).

To conclude, because of the reasons mentioned above, this research adopts a broader concept of international students. In this study, international students are defined as foreigners who currently take courses with/without a degree program, or who learns Mandarin in college as a student in Taiwan. In addition, they should meet the following requirements: (a) people who were not born in Taiwan and resided outside Taiwan for the majority of their childhood, or have stayed overseas for more than six consecutive years and have a permanent or long-term residence certification in the country they live in; and (b) people who have foreign nationality. This includes students who have foreign nationality and who possess an overseas Chinese student status.

1.1.2 Cultural problems among international students

In the process of adapting to a new culture, international students face unique issues that differ from domestic students, and acculturative stress is one of the most common problems they face. Acculturative stress refers to a certain category of stress, in which the stressors are identified as resulting from the experience of change and adaptation to a foreign culture, as well as encountering unfamiliar social norms and mores (Berry, 2005;

Church, 1982; Lin & Yi, 1997; Smart & Smart, 1995). In order to be conceptualized as

acculturative stress, the stressor needs to be perceived as a problem caused by intercultural contact that cannot be dealt with easily or by simply assimilating to them (Berry, 2005). The symptoms resulting from acculturative stress can be broad and may include physical, psychological and social aspects. For international students in Taiwan, the sources of acculturative stress often include perceived discrimination, lack of social support, language difficulties, difficulties in adjusting to new food or weather, academic pressure, and homesickness (Chiang, 2003; Hsu, 2007; Huang, 2008; Shih, 2006).

Also, moving to a new culture can lead to numerous challenges for international students and has potentially negative effects on their mental health (Mallinckrodt &

Leong, 1992; Sandhu, 1994; Sodowsky & Lai, 1997). Recently, studies have indicated that acculturative stress is positively associated with depression and mental distress among international students in the United States (U.S.; Wei, Heppner & Mallen, 2007).

In Taiwan, those international students who reported having higher levels of acculturative stress often feel vulnerable and isolated (Huang, 2008).

Previous studies of international students in Taiwan have focused almost exclusively on the relationship between personal factors and dependent variables such as financial problems, cultural adjustment, or social networks (Chang, 2008b; Hsu, 2007; Huang, 2008; Shih, 2006; Wang, 2011). Examples of these demographic variables include age, gender, social contact, geographical home region, length of residence time, language proficiency, etc. However, exclusive emphasis on demographic variables without consideration of environmental factors can lead to attributing adjustment difficulties or problems of the international students solely to the individual without adequately acknowledging the role of environment in the students' problems (Yoon & Portman, 2004).

Moreover, as Fouad (1991) stated, environmental factors can be more predictive of international students' successful adjustment than individual factors. Scholars need to

balance between exploring personal factors and environmental factors rather than assigning all problems to international students, in essence blaming the victims. Thus, except for focusing on international students’ acculturative stress and depression level, as outcome variables, this study also assesses their perceived microaggressions, as predictor variables, to obtain a broader perspective of how these students adapt to the host culture.

Perceived discrimination is reported to be one of the most common stressors in international students’ acculturation processes (Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994). Harrell (2000) argued that experiences of racism are a unique source of chronic stress for ethnic minorities distinct from other general life stressors. Because this common stressor is related to host culture members’ attitudes and behaviors toward the students, it can directly influence international students’ relationships and communications with domestic people (Jung, Hecht & Wadsworth, 2007). Several studies have found a positive association between experiences of perceived discrimination and depression among international students (Dion, Dion & Pak, 1992; Wei, Ku, Russel, Mallinckrodt & Liao 2008).

Despite the importance of the topic, few studies in Taiwan focus on perceived discrimination among international students. There are several qualitative studies that interview international students and found that some students have received racial discrimination and prejudice from Taiwanese people (Shih, 2006; Tsao, 2013). Huang (2008) assessed international students’ level of acculturative stress, which includes perceived discrimination and perceived hatred. She then interviewed some students and found out that even though White students tended to be treated better than non-White students, both groups reported experiencing unfair discrimination. Also, in Lan’s study (2011) on White immigrants in Taiwan, several Whites reported experiencing a unique form of racism, which is called positive racism in the study. For example, they are often

viewed as only an English speaker and other traits are usually ignored from Taiwanese people. However, those studies paid little attention to the frequency of discrimination encountered by international students and whether the discrimination harmed those students. Instead, most studies concluded that Taiwanese people are in general friendly to foreigners despite the fact that some of them mentioned the existence of racial discrimination in Taiwan.

While measures of acculturative stress often include items for perceived discrimination (Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994; Ying, 2005), what exact types of discrimination are being perceived is important for making personal and policy changes to decrease the stress of international students. If scholars are finding that Taiwanese people are being friendly, while at the same time finding that international students are perceiving discrimination and prejudice, then the discrimination is likely not blatant, and may even stem from well-intentioned (friendly) offenses.

In fact, this is well in line with modern assessments of racism. Prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination are more likely to be subtle rather than blatant (Boysen, 2012).

Research has also indicated that overt, traditional types of racism (i.e., overt acts, such as racial segregation and physical violence towards certain races) have been widely recognized as inappropriate. However, the notion of racial bias continues to exist and has transformed into less blatant form than in the past (Constantine, 2007; Dovidio &

Gaertner, 2000; Pearson, Dovidio & Gaertner, 2009). The term microaggressions refer to one of the common forms of these subtle acts of discrimination that can be characterized as “verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that send denigrating or negative messages to target people simply based on their marginalized group identity” (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal,

& Esquilin, 2007). These exchanges are usually viewed as harmless and innocuous, but

it is found that microaggressions may have potentially negative impacts on an individual’s psychological and physical health. (Nadal, Davidoff, Davis, & Wong, 2014; Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008; Sue et al., 2007). In fact, Sue (2003) believe, that “this contemporary form of racism is many times over more problematic, damaging, and injurious to persons of color than overt racist acts” (p. 48).

Despite the relatively short period of time that international students spend in the host country, when compared to domestic residents, this population is not excluded from microaggressions. Literature has addressed several themes of microaggressions that international students commonly experience from native people. For example, Kim and Kim (2010) pointed out that, in the U.S., international students whose first language is different from the host culture may suffer from being perceived as unintelligent or uneducated. Also, students from South-East Asian countries reported being negatively associated as caretakers or immigrant workers in Taiwan (Chen, 2012; Shih, 2006). These examples support the notion that microaggression exists in Taiwan, but no study has examined whether it is microaggressions specifically that are significant contributors to the acculturative stress or depression of international students in Taiwan. Therefore, this study attempts to assess the frequency and the potential impact of perceived microaggressions among this population.