The Coping and Social Support in Response to Discrimination

Discrimination has also been identified as a stressor to international students,

according to many studies conducted in the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom.

As shown in Table 1, different forms of discrimination were reported as stressors by

international students. Some concepts or situations found in international student

literature were also reflected in this study, particularly in reports from three participants

from South Korea, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic, respectively. As Table 8

shows, these three participants encountered on-campus or off-campus discrimination

of varying degrees, including prejudice about home countries or people; unfair

treatment; and verbal assaults.

Table 8

Coping and Social Support in Response to Discrimination

Stressor Coping Social Support

Source Resource

Stressor Coping Social Support

The participant from South Korea reported encountering negative remarks about

her home country from a teaching assistant and local students. She tried to restrain

herself from confronting the offenders, opting instead to reflect on how similar issues

happened in her country. The following excerpt revealed her uncomfortable experience

with discrimination once in a class.

And one day there was assistant, he was teaching us about other country's system and how is China, how is Korea, but they were talking about something bad, including Korean…Criticize my country. But I was the only Korean there in class, my friend knew that they are talking about Korea, they were looking at me.

I couldn't say anything, because it's their right to speak about [it]. (IS8)

It's fine for me, because we are talking bad about Chinese all the time in our country…I feel very embarrassed for Taiwanese, for the assistant, he knew that I’m Korean, but he did it on purpose. I don’t know why…I did feel

uncomfortable. (IS8)

Furthermore, the same participant also encountered negative remarks when

interacting with some local students. To cope with the situation, she actively corrected

what she believed was a prejudice to her country. However, if she believed it was

merely a matter of the person’s likes or dislikes about her country, then she can accept

it.

Some of them have stereotype to Korean, they don’t just ask, they just tell me, you guys are like this…I had bad feeling but I don’t think it's a big deal…I just correct if they say something wrong...Many people were asking us, are there a lot of Koreans having plastic surgery something like that. They were asking me like everyone [implying that everyone in Korea has plastic surgery]. I just told them it's not everyone and other Taiwanese and Japanese, Chinese, coming to Korea to have plastic surgery because we have great technology, and they didn't say anything. I just correct them like that. (IS8)

Similarly, another participant from Vietnam reported her cases with negative

remarks about her fellow countrymen or women taking place off-campus when

interacting with local vendors.

Sometimes when I go out to buy food or buy something, because I have the accent, so they will ask me where I am from. If I go out to buy food, many people will say like: ‘Are you married to a Taiwanese and then you come here for getting married?’...Still happen now, because as long as I still got the accent, people still have that thinking…In the beginning when I met some people like that I was really angry, but now okay, I think some people didn't understand, so okay. (IS8)

To cope with the problem, the participant from Vietnam tried to see things from

the locals’ point of view and tried to accept problems that were not in her control.

Because their understanding is not big enough. Vietnamese people here are not only for marriage, I know that a big portion for marriage, but still a portion for studying. So, I think those people don’t have much understanding, they think all people come for marriage…I’m not the kind of person who try to change other people…It did annoy me, but I’m thinking because sometimes it's because some people from my country they did some bad reputation here as well…but it's very hard to tell everyone ‘no, I’m not a bad person.’, so I just leave up like that"

(IS10)

The most extreme case was experienced by a participant from the Dominican

Republic. She commented on the feelings of discomfort, inhospitality (e.g. dodging,

staring), and unfair treatment (e.g. double charging, getting unequal service), as well

as experiencing direct verbal insults, based on a number of off-campus encounters with

discrimination in her daily life. It is impossible to know how much of what was

reported was actual discrimination based on the race of this participant, and how much

was due to a misunderstanding on the participant’s behalf, or the unintentional mistakes

of people the participant was engaged with. However, according to the following

statement, it is obvious that the experiences had a clear negative effect on the

I face that almost every day. If you go out of campus. If I sit in the MRT, they stand up, or in the bus they won't sit, they will be packing and there will be one seat next to me empty. They won't sit, because of my skin color. Or they are staring at you which is very uncomfortable. They look at you like you are an alien or you are in Animal Planet, such a very, very uncomfortable feeling.

(IS12)

When people want to take picture of you or something like that, I feel

uncomfortable. It is different [from], ‘Oh can I take a picture with you?’, but not like this, it is very, very uncomfortable. (IS12)

I’ve faced bus drivers from Gongguan to here, wanted to charge me twice. Just because they wanted to. Even though I was with my German friend, they did not charge twice to her. Or the customer service in the store, convenient store, that kind of stuff, they’re kind of a little bit rude, or people grabbing their kids like you are gonna kidnap them. That kind of stuff, it is very uncomfortable. (IS12)

We were like window shopping at H&M. …I was looking and she came, and she was looking too. I finished the part I was looking, I moved slowly and she put a bag harshly, threw it away, and said ‘bitch get out of here’. .... and I was like

‘what is your problem?’ ‘What is your matter?’… Then she disappeared, and then she appeared again ‘bitch get out of here, you are stinky’ that kind of stuff. That makes me feel bad, but that is not I offended for, that is no offensive for me. But

‘bitch get out of here, you are stinky’ whatever, I never ever experienced that thing in United States. (IS12)

The participant reflected on her deep frustration towards the incidents, as the

following excerpts illustrate. However, in this case, no positive coping strategies, or

mentions of seeking social report were reported.

Because it is a skin thing, even though I can be more prepared than that person, but at the end I won't get that position, or I won't get that thing that I want, because I am black. So it is something that make you feel, powerless, but it’s what it is. (IS12)

No. Like when you stayed in States, these guys said that to you, and they were ignorant. Same here, there are a lot of ignorant people. (IS12)

The participant stated that she had mentioned these incidents to a member of

school staff during a closed-door conversation. However, it seemed that the staff

member she had talked to did not react properly. Indeed, if the problem of

discrimination had not been uncovered and seriously discussed, none of the university

staff and faculty would have been prepared to address her problem. Therefore, it was

not surprising that the participant ended up opting to cope in silence.

Once I talk to Amy [pseudonym][a member of staff]… And she was ‘Oh, I can't believe it, will you take care?’… She was like cannot laughing, or I can't believe it, that's it. So, what can she do? Nothing. Because it wasn't on campus. (IS12)

The following coping strategies were reported by the participants: acceptance,

active coping, and reacting with emotion and frustration. None of these

discrimination-specific coping methods were documented in the general studies listed in the literature

review. More importantly, none of the three participants reported receiving or even

seeking social support to cope with discriminatory incidents. Similarly, they did not

utilize university services, nor did they seek the support of their friendship network.

According to Wei, Heppner, Ku, & Liao (2010), depressive symptoms were

significantly associated with racial discrimination. Furthermore, the same study

confirmed that reactive coping strategies strengthened the relation between racial

discrimination, stress, and depressive symptoms; conversely, family support buffered

the relation between racial discrimination, stress, and depressive symptoms. Many

studies have found that the experience of discrimination had a negative impact on

international students’ adaption, as it tended to precipitate poor psychological

well-being, depression, higher levels of homesickness, and can discourage international

students from forming local friendships. (Smith & Khawaja, 2011).

To sum up, in response to discrimination and prejudice, international students in

this study tended to use acceptance and emotional responses; while the utilization of

social support either from the university or friendship network was not reported. Even

though the forms of discrimination found in this study were limited, compared to the

findings of other international student literature, in light of the graveness of

discrimination, and the potential negative effects on international students’ well-being,

it is essential for international student affairs professionals in the universities to develop

appropriate programs or intervention methods to assist the affected students to cope

with discrimination or prejudice.