Coping Styles and Socio-demographic Variables as

Curr Psychol DOI 10.1007/s12144-017-9635-3

Coping Styles and Socio-demographic Variables as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being among International Students Belonging to Different Cultures Mubeen Akhtar 1,2 & Birgit Kroener-Herwig 2

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017

Abstract The study examined whether coping styles (reflective, suppressive, and reactive coping) predict the level of psychological well-being among international students, studying at German universities and living in a situation where the impact of acculturation stress is supposed to be rather high. In particular, we looked for any differences in preferred coping styles of university students belonging to diverse cultures to find out whether there are differential associations between coping styles and culture. The participants were 235 Asian, 204 European, and 94 Latin American students who were recruited with the support of offices of student’s affairs of universities. They completed an online survey comprising the WHO Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Problem-focused Styles of Coping Inventory (PF-SOC), Student Stress Inventory (SSI), and a socio-demographic questionnaire. After controlling for socio-demographic variables which showed hardly any influence on well-being, coping exerted a high influence on the affective and functional state of international students. Suppressive coping turned out to be a relatively stronger predictor of a low level of psychological wellbeing in all three cultural groups, whereas reflective coping is predictive of a high level of psychological well-being. Also,

* Mubeen Akhtar [email protected] * Birgit Kroener-Herwig [email protected] 1

Department of Humanities, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad, Pakistan

2

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Georg Elias Mueller Institute of Psychology, Georg August University Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany

reactive coping is rather dysfunctional but much less so than suppressive coping. Cultural group was found to be a significant predictor of coping styles. There were no significant differences in the level of well-being among the cultural groups, with about 40% being beyond a cut-off point signalling a depressive state. Counseling services need to pay attention to the relatively high percentage of students with poor psychological wellbeing. Improving students’ coping strategies may be an efficient way to improve their psychological well-being in academic/university and general life contexts. Keywords Psychological well-being . coping styles . Asian . European . Latin American students

Introduction Stress is common among students in an academic context, especially when living in a foreign country (Akhtar and KrönerHerwig 2015; Zajacova et al. 2005). A stressful situation is one that is experienced by the individual as threatening or harmful, and it may alter or interfere with physical and/or psychological well-being (Vaughn and Roesch 2003). Students are subjected to different kinds of stressors, such as the pressure of academics with an obligation to succeed, an uncertain future, and difficulties of integrating into the system. International students are likely to face a series of environmental, cultural, social, and psychological changes on a daily basis in their acculturative experience. As a result, the ability of the individual student to prevent psychological distress is closely related to personal resources, and specifically to the effective use of coping strategies (Khramtsova et al. 2007; Salami 2008). Coping is conceptualized as cognitive and behavioural efforts to manage situations appraised as taxing or exceeding a person’s resources (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Evidence from studies

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with international students supports the view that coping strategies influence adaptation, a sense of life satisfaction, and better performance (Struthers et al. 2000). Maladaptive coping strategies may have unfavourable consequences regarding health (Pritchard et al. 2007). Previous studies did not clearly establish which coping styles are associated with high/low well-being in international students belonging to different cultures and living in a foreign country. In the literature, a distinction between dispositional and situational coping exists. Authors of dispositional coping theories suggest that the preferred ways of coping constitute a trait that people execute in various stressful situations. According to this point of view, people do not approach each context as new; rather they use a preferred set of coping strategies that remains relatively stable over time and situations (McCrae and Costa 1986). In the context of our research, we used a questionnaire developed by Heppner, Cook, Wright and Johnson (1995) to assess the dispositional coping style of students dealing with stressful events.. Although coping responses can be classified in many ways, most approaches distinguish between problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Problem focused strategies are directed towards the resolution of the problem, whereas emotion focused strategies are aimed at reducing the emotional distress associated with stressful situation. Within this system, the reflective style coping is a problem-focused strategy which is the tendency to examine causal relationships, plan, and to be systematic in the solution of the problems. Both the suppressive and reactive style coping reflect emotion-focused activities. The suppressive style is a tendency to deny problems and avoid direct coping activities whereas the reactive style is the tendency to give emotional and cognitive responses that deplete the individual or distort coping activities (Heppner et al. 2004). Previous research showed that coping styles which are problemfocused are usually considered more effective and adaptive, and are correlated with a higher degree of psychological wellbeing (Holahan and Moos 1987; Penley et al. 2002; Shimazu and Schaufeli 2007), whereas emotion-focused coping styles are often associated with depressive symptoms, phobic anxiety, and somatization (Holahan and Moos 1987; Penley et al. 2002; Watson and Sinha 2008). Psychological well-being is a construct that implies a generalized feeling of happiness (Schmutte and Ryff 1997) or affective state and a sense of functioning with high effectiveness in daily life (Deci and Ryan 2008). This implies that wellbeing is Bthe combination of feeling good and functioning effectively^ (Huppert 2009). We intended to explore the relationship between coping and well-being in international students belonging to different regions of the world, while studying in Germany. In particular, we wanted to find out whether the association of well-being and coping styles found in earlier studies can be confirmed in this special group. It was assumed

that reflective coping is predictive of a high level of psychological well-being, whereas suppressive and reactive coping styles are predictive of a lower level of psychological wellbeing among international students belonging to different regions of the world. Additionally, we were interested in differences between nationalities regarding well-being and their preferred coping styles and potentially differing relationship between coping and well-being. Although stress and coping are universal experiences faced by individuals regardless of culture, ethnicity, and race, some researchers argue that members of different cultures might consider and respond to stressors differently with respect to coping goals, strategies, and outcomes (Chun et al. 2006). Lam and Zane (2004) found significant ethnic differences in how Asian and White American students cope with interpersonal stressors. Given the powerful and pervasive role of culture in human behavior, one would logically expect culture to affect how people learn to cope with all phases of life’s problems and stressors. In essence, there is ample evidence that cultural norms, customs, and values affect what are considered to be (a) problems and stressors, (b) allowable coping strategies, (c) acceptable solutions, and (d) indicators of psychological adjustment (Cheung 2000; Wong and Wong 2006). Coping may also change with age, such that older adults may utilize more efficient coping mechanisms which conserve resources, appear to be better at regulating negative emotions, and may be less likely to appraise situations as highly stressful (Aldwin 2011). It was also assumed that various sociodemographic characteristics (like gender, age, financial support, degree, subject of study), which vary among the students, could significantly moderate the stress level in individuals and thereby influence well-being. Thus, these variables were examined regarding their predictive power for wellbeing in the first step in a regression analysis and then the surplus influence of coping styles was tested.

Method Characteristics of the Sample Participants consisted of 533 university students including 235 Asian, 204 European, and 94 Latin American students (see Table 1). The age of the participants ranged between 20 years and 35 years among all groups, with the Europeans being about 3 years younger than the Asian and Latin American students and two third of the sample being female. Among all the groups, the proportion of students living alone was higher as compared to living with a partner or married. The major source of financial support was scholarships, whereas getting loans or using savings to support studies was reported by a small number of participants. Asian students (44.1%) were mainly from China, India, Pakistan,

Curr Psychol Table 1

Sociodemographic characteristics of the sample (N = 533)

Demographic variables

Categories

Age (years)

Range 20–35

Gender (n, %)

Men Women Living alone

Marital status (n, %)

Educational status (n, %)

Subject of study (n, %)

Source of financial support (n, %)

Time spent in the host country

Living with partner Married Bachelors Diploma Masters Doctorate Natural sciences Social sciences Humanities Business Scholarship Parents/Family Personal earning Loan Savings Others (more than one source Range 1–59 months

Iran, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Students who reported Latin America as their continent of origin mostly belonged to countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Bolivia. European students who participated in the current study were mainly from France, Italy, Romania, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungry, and Belarus (see Table 1). Assessment Psychological well-being was measured by using WHO-5 Well-being Index, developed by World Health Organization (1998), which is a short questionnaire covering positive mood (good spirits, relaxation), vitality (being active and waking up fresh and rested), and general interest (being interested in things). The degree to which these positive feelings were present in the last two weeks is scored on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 5 (0 = at no time to 5 = all of the time). The raw score ranges from 0 to 25, the higher score representing best possible quality of life and healthier condition. The cut-off point is 13, a raw score below 13 signals poor well-being, associated with depressive symptoms (WHO, 1998). The internal and external validity of WHO-5 has been well established for measuring subjective quality of life and

Asian (n = 235)

European (n = 204)

Latin American (n = 94)

M 26.84 Sd 3.78 116 (49.36) 119 (50.64) 154 (65.53)

M 23.77 Sd 2.85 73 (35.78) 131 (64.22) 158 (77.45)

M 26.96 Sd 3.91 42 (44.68) 52 (55.32) 55 (58.51)

23 (9.79) 58 (24.68) 32 (13.62) 13 (5.53) 96 (40.85) 94 (40.0) 121 (51.49) 29 (12.34) 18 (7.66) 67 (28.51) 129 (54.89) 51 (21.70) 12 (5.11) 4 (1.70) 8 (3.40) 31 (13.19) M 23.06 Sd 16.01

30 (14.71) 16 (7.84) 60 (29.41) 28 (13.73) 86 (42.16) 30 (14.71) 51 (25.0) 32 (15.69) 48 (23.53) 73 (35.78) 54 (26.47) 47 (23.04) 21 (10.29) 8 (3.92) 9 (4.41) 65 (31.86) M 21.04 Sd 18.20

16 (17.02) 23 (24.45) 22 (23.40) 4 (4.23) 33 (35.11) 35 (37.23) 42 (44.68) 22 (23.40) 9 (9.58) 21 (22.34) 55 (58.51) 12 (12.77) 3 (3.19) 1 (1.06) 3 (3.19) 20 (21.28) M 20.73 Sd 15.14

positive affect among elderly general population (Heun, Burkardt, Maier, & Bech, 1999; Bonsignore et al. 2001). The WHO-5 has a one factor structure with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82. The Problem-focused Styles of Coping Inventory (PFSOC; Heppner et al. 1995) is an18-item questionnaire that assesses problem focused activities associated with progress towards resolving problems. Each item uses a 5-point Likert type scale ranging from almost never (1) to almost all of the time (5). The PF-SOC consists of three subscales including Reflective Style, Suppressive Style, and Reactive Style which were derived from factor analysis. The Reflective Style consists of 7-items that assesses the tendency to examine causal relationships, plan, and to be systematic in coping (such as BI consider the short term and long term consequences of each possible solution to my problems^). Raw score ranges from 7 to 35 on this subscale. The Suppressive Style has 6-items (raw score ranges from 6 to 30) that measure the tendency to deny problems and avoid coping activities (e.g., BI spend my time doing unrelated chores and activities instead of acting on my problems^). The Reactive Style, emotion-focused coping, consists of 5items that measure the tendency to have strong emotional responses, distortion, impulsivity, and cognitive confusion such as BI get preoccupied thinking about my problems and

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over emphasize some parts of them.^ The raw score on this subscale ranges from 5 to 25. Higher scores on each of the factors are indicative of more frequent endorsement of Reflective, Suppressive, or Reactive coping styles. According to Heppner et al. (1995) the PF-SOC showed satisfying alpha reliability coefficients ranging from .73 (reactive style) to .77 (reflective style) and test-retest correlations ranging from .65 (suppressive subscale) to .71 (reactive subscale) over 3 weeks. Evidence for construct validity of PF-SOC factors comes from the negative correlation of reflective coping and positive association of suppressive and reactive coping with measures of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, frequency of problems and psychological maladjustment) (Heppner et al. 1995). A pretest of the PF-SOC was carried out on a sample of 58 university students. The data for this phase was collected through both an online survey and a paper-pencil version of the survey. On the basis of these data one item of the PF-SOC was eliminated, which belongs to reactive subscale (low itemscale-correlation). In consequence Cronbach’s alpha coefficient increased from .53 to .66. The Student Stress Inventory (SSI; Zeidner 1991) which is originally comprised of 53-items, to be rated on 5-point Likert type scale, was used to measure academic stress. The current study used 31-items, which were related directly to academic life setting. The scale provides a sum score for total academic stress, with higher scores indicating greater academic stress. As a result of pre-testing, five items of SSI having low item-total correlation (r < .35) were deleted without losing reliability. The remaining 26 items have a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .92. Zeidner and Schwarzer (1996) found an alpha reliability coefficient of .93 for Israeli and .92 for German college students. Procedure Participants were recruited with the support of Offices of Student Affairs of universities all over Germany. They were briefed about the purpose of the research and were requested to forward an advertisement (a standard email provided by the researcher) to their students informing them about the project and requesting them to participate. The email provided a brief introduction and significance of the project, criteria for participation and a web-link to participate. The participation of the students was completely voluntary. To increase the response rate, encouragement for participation was incited by announcement of a lucky draw of three cash prizes at the end of the survey. The data were collected through a web-based survey. Also, instruments were presented in English language. The survey website was made available to the participants for about 4 months. The online survey comprised the WHO-5, PFSOC, SSI and the socio-demographic questionnaire.

Statistical Analyses Statistical methods included multivariate regression analysis, mediation analysis, chi-square, as well as one-way ANOVA. Preliminary data analysis mainly consisted of reliability analysis of each of the scales using Cronbach’s alpha. An alpha level of .05 was given for significance testing.

Results All of the measures reached a satisfactory level of internal consistency ranging from .70 (reactive coping) to .92 (SSI) (see Table 2). Predicting Psychological Well-being from Socio-demographic Variables and Coping Styles Multiple linear regression analysis was used to find out the extent to which socio-demographic variables predict psychological well-being among the students. Variables were entered in the form of blocks. The first block of variables entered comprised age, gender, marital status, subject of the study, degree, and major source of financial support. Female was coded as 0 whereas male was coded as 1. For marital status, single was coded as 0 whereas married as 1. For degree, bachelor studies served as a reference group, for subject of study natural science, and for sources of financial support scholarship served as a reference group. Coping styles were added as a second set of variables to identify the added variance explained by them. Each of the three cultural groups was analysed separately. Results show that sociodemographic variables explained a small amount of variance (less than 1%) in well-being. Gender1 was the only predictor reaching significant values either regarding the analysis of block I variables or the complete analysis (block I, II). The analysis indicates in every group that male students had a higher level of psychological well-being as compared to female students, although the impact is quite low. With the addition of coping styles in the model, gender lost its predictive power among the European and Latin American students. Among the European group of students, pursuing diploma degree is associated with lower level of psychological well-being. Concerning subject of study, humanities related subjects are associated with higher level of psychological well-being. Adding the second block of variables consisting of coping styles resulted in a much better model in terms of explained variance. Coping styles accounted for an 1 sex was measured in the current study which is a biological fact and remain same across different cultures

Curr Psychol Table 2 Means, standard deviations and cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the study variables (N = 533) Variables

No. of items

Alpha coefficient

M

5

.90

13.02

5.71

0–25

7

.81

22.03

5.53

7–35

Suppressive coping 6 Reactive coping 4 Student stress 26 inventory

.80 .70 .92

13.45 4.79 6–30 10.78 3.35 4–20 77.11 18.97 26–130

WHO-5 wellbeing index Reflective coping

Sd

groups, however, it was associated with a higher level of psychological well-being (see Table 3).

Score range

Predicting Coping Styles from Cultural Group Linear regression analysis was used to find out if cultural group is a significant predictor of coping styles. Results showed that cultural group is a significant predictor of reflective and suppressive coping. Being from Latin America predicts a high level of reflective coping (b = .11, p < .05) whereas being from Asia predicts a high level of suppressive coping (b = .10, p < .05).

additional 27% variance in Asian and European as compared to 24% in Latin American students. Suppressive coping was the strongest predictor in all cultural groups associated with a low level of psychological well-being. Reflective coping is less predictive in each of the student Table 3

Differences in the Level of Psychological Well-being across Cultural Groups Frequencies and percentages of students in each cultural group, who fall below the cut-off score (raw score < 13 on

Predicting psychological well-being from socio-demographic variables and coping styles

Predictor Variables

Block I Age Gender Marital status Subject of study Social sciences Humanities Business Degree Diploma Masters Doctorate Financial support Parents/family Personal earning Loan Saving

Asian students (n = 235)

European students (n = 204)

Latin American students (n = 94)

Block I ß

Block II ß

Block I ß

Block I ß

−.10 .12 .04

.01 .12* .01

.03 .14* −.03

.05 .11 −.07

.04 .13* −.07

.11 .10 −.11

.07 .06 −.04

.07 .04 .05

.06 .18* .10

−.05 .16* .06

.08 −.16 .10

.01 −.07 −.10

.06 .06 .12

.12 .13 .29*

−.14 −.13 .12

−.17* −.14 .13*

.15 .11 .09

.14 .01 .14*

−.01 −.02 .09 −.04

.05 .04 .07 .03

−.09 −.04 −.03 −.17*

−.09 −.08 −.04 −.11

−.04 .04 -

.01 −.02 -

-

-

−.03

.03

−.16

−.12

Others Block II Coping style Reflective Suppressive Reactive 2

R F df

.10* −.35*** −.29*** .01 .94 13, 221

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

.28 6.77*** 16, 218

Block II ß

.13* −.41*** −.14* .03 1.38 14, 189

.30 6.15*** 17, 186

Block II ß

.19* −.45** .01 .95 12, 81

−.01 .25 3.04** 15, 78

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WHO-5) on psychological well-being were calculated (see Fig 1), revealing about 40% to be beyond the cut-off point. However, chi-square test indicated the difference in groups was not statistically significant X2 (2) = 0.76, N = 533, p = 0.68.

(M = 21.50, Sd = 5.55) as compared to graduate students (M = 22.46, Sd = 5.38) in addition to having lower mean scores on psychological wellbeing (M = 12.76, Sd = 5.49) as compared to the graduate students (M = 13.33, Sd = 6.10). However, the difference in the level of psychological wellbeing between the two groups was not statistically significant.

Test of Mediation In order to determine if academic stress mediates the relationship between coping styles and psychological well-being, mediation analysis was carried out. The result of the mediation analysis indicated partial mediation. As Fig. 2 illustrates, the standardized regression coefficients between coping styles and academic stress were statistically significant, as was the standardized regression coefficient between academic stress and psychological well-being. Since both the a-path and bpath were significant, mediation analysis was tested using the bootstrapping method with bias corrected coefficient estimates (Preacher & Hayes, 2004). The 95% confidence interval of the indirect effects was obtained with 5000 bootstrap resamples (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Results of the mediation analysis confirmed the mediating role of academic stress in the relationship between coping styles and wellbeing (B = −.09; CI = −.10 to −.06). In addition, results indicated that the direct effect of coping styles on psychological well-being is reduced (Reflective coping: B = .11, t (525) = 2.91, p = .004; Suppressive coping: B = −.23, t (525) = −6.46, p = .000; Reactive coping: B = −.13, t (525) = −2.78, p = .006) when controlling for academic stress, thus suggesting partial mediation (see Fig 2). The role of the academic degrees being pursued was also explored in relation to the association between stress, coping and wellbeing. There was significant difference in the level of stress between undergraduate students and graduate students (t = 3.89, p < .001). Students in undergraduate level of studies were found to experience significantly higher level of stress (M = 79.30, Sd = 17.79) as compared to graduate students (M = 72.53, Sd = 19.90). Moreover, undergraduate students showed significantly lower use of reflective coping

Fig. 1 Percentage of international students in each group with low and high level of psychological well-being (cut-off score on WHO-5 is 13)

Discussion Among the influence of socio-demographic variables, gender was the only significant predictor of psychological well-being in all groups of students suggesting that male students have a higher level of well-being. Although the exact reason for this difference is not known, the lower level of psychological wellbeing among women could possibly be related to the higher prevalence of depression in women (Barsky, Peekna, & Borus, 2001). An ANOVA was carried out to determine interactions for culture and gender on psychological wellbeing. It was found that gender differences in wellbeing are not determined by culture. With the addition of block II variables in the model, gender slightly lost its predictive power since it has high correlation with coping. The academic degree the student is pursuing and the subjects of study also have some association with the level of psychological well-being. Among the European group of students, pursuing diploma degree studies is associated with lower well-being. Concerning subject of study, humanities subjects are associated with higher level of psychological wellbeing. One may speculate that those who are majoring in humanities related subjects may be more comfortable with their studies, may have a better sense of their course content, or may have a sense of autonomy in handling the demands of their studies. However more research is needed in this area to better explain such connections. Doctoral study was found to be associated with higher level of psychological well-being among all groups of students; however, the relationship is stronger in Asian students. Doctoral students are older than the students at other levels of studies. They are more experienced to get along well with the academic requirements, and also have a better idea of the subsequent career options which may place them at a higher well-being. Financial support through savings is associated with lower level of psychological well-being among European students. Savings include personal funds saved before the commencement of studies. Utilizing that money may put certain students under a great deal of pressure since the amount is decreasing and putting students in financial uncertainty. The influence of socio-demographic variables on the subjective level of well-being is relatively low, which may signify that the stress potential of various socio-demographic factors included in the study is not differing much from each other.

Curr Psychol Fig. 2 Indirect effect of coping styles on psychological wellbeing through Academic stress. The standardized refression coeefeicients between coping styles and psychological wellbeing, after controlling for academic stress, are in parethesis Note: *p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001

Academic Stress

A-path

B-path -.39***

-.10* .25*** .20***

Reflective coping Suppressive coping

.13***(.10**) -.30***(-.23***)

Psychological Wellbeing

-.19***(-.13**)

Reactive coping C (C’-path)

Therefore, the subjective potential of coping with problems, especially dysfunctional coping, is of much higher relevance to psychological wellbeing of students. As hypothesized, suppressive coping significantly predicted lower level of psychological well-being among all groups of students, and more strongly among Latin American students since they reported using it less frequently. No further validating literature with reference to Latin American students was found regarding this finding. Avoiding thinking about one’s problems makes the situation worse resulting in a feeling of depression and anxiety, and lower well-being. Asian and European students reported feeling so frustrated at times that they just gave up doing any further work on solving their problems, even as they continued to feel uneasy about their problems. Previous studies have also shown that coping efforts with a strong emotional component are associated with phobic anxiety, depression, and somatisation, hence, they are a major predictor of psychopathology (Stecker, 2004; Watson & Sinha, 2008). Similar findings regarding college students were reported by Pritchard, et al. (2007) suggesting that emotion-focused coping strategies, particularly the use of suppressive strategies, is associated with negative outcomes such as poorer health and increased negative affect among college students. Reflective coping was found as a functional problem solving strategy predicting a higher level of psychological wellbeing among all groups of students in the current study, as hypothesized. It indicates that looking for alternative plans to solve one’s problems in case the first attempt does not work is an effective way to manage a stressful situation. It is important to consider the short-term and long-term consequences of each possible solution to one’s problem. Students who are systematic in coping and have an understanding of the cause of their emotion may have more success in their attempts to resolve their personal problems. Thus, earlier studies were confirmed in regard to the positive effects of reflective coping on the psychological adaptation and affective state. Reactive coping style is associated with lower level of psychological well-being, as hypothesized, since the immediate and strong emotional reaction to a stressful situation distorts the problem and creates confusion reducing the ability to find out an appropriate solution. The strength of association is stronger among Asian students as compared to European

and Latin American students. Reactive coping is incongruent with the Asian value of emotional self-control (Kim, Li, & Ng, 2005), and using this strategy to deal with stress is associated with low well-being and distress. Cultural group was found to be a significant predictor of coping styles. Results of a linear regression analysis showed that being from Asia predicts a high level of suppressive coping. This finding is in line with the Asian value of emotional self-control (Kim, Li, & Ng, 2005), expressive suppression and maladjustment (Cheung & Park, 2010). Being from Latin America predicts a high level of reflective coping. Latin American students have a higher level of reflective coping as compared to Asian and European students. They reported to be more systematic and organized in their approach to solving certain problems. Linked with this, they have a slightly higher mean score on psychological well-being as compared to Asian and European students, but the difference in scores does not qualify for statistical significance. No significant differences were found in the level of psychological well-being of international students belonging to Asia, Europe and Latin America. Frequencies and percentages of students falling below the cut-off point on psychological well-being showed about 40% having poor well-being and an indication for screening of depression. The number of students having good psychological well-being is slightly higher (62.8%) among the European sample as compared to Asian and Latin American students. European students have large cultural similarity with the host country which makes them less prone to acculturation stress and poor well-being. Contrary to this, Asian and Latin American students have to struggle with the cultural adjustment and acculturation related stressors (Akhtar & Kröner-Herwig, 2015) which may make them more prone to poor well-being and suggest an indication of depression. Findings indicated that the relationship between coping styles and psychological well-being is partially mediated by stress. Literature suggests that stress has negative impact on psychological wellbeing (Terry, Nielsen & Perchard, 1993) and well-being is related to coping strategies (Larsson, Nordin, & Nygren, 2016). Perhaps high level of wellbeing is linked with a better opportunity to use reflective coping. On the other hand, one may also speculate that the use of

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reflective coping is associated with higher wellbeing. So, both directions may exist, but it is difficult to decide with common cross sectional studies. Another variable that influenced the relationship between stress, coping, and wellbeing concerns what degree was being pursued. Those in undergraduate learning were found to experience significantly higher level of stress as compared to graduate students. One may speculate that undergraduate students have to compete for the graduate studies where there are limited seats available. Their access is dependent on the grades in undergraduate studies which is one reason which puts them under a great deal of stress. Moreover, significant difference was found on the use of reflective coping. Those pursuing undergraduate studies have lower use of reflective coping as compared to graduate students. Poor coping is further linked with lower level of psychological wellbeing, though the difference in the level of psychological wellbeing between undergraduate and graduate students was not statistically significant in the current study. Limitations of the Current Study and Suggestions for Future Research The present study has some limitations: firstly, the crosssectional nature of the study provides only a snapshot of the situation at a single point in time about the observed associations among variables. Future studies could benefit from longitudinal data to explore the association of variables over time. Secondly, the sample of the study may be biased in a way that only those students participated who were interested in the topic and willing to spare time. Future studies of this kind could have more generalizable results if the sample is recruited through probability sampling techniques. Lastly, although the study provides meaningful quantitative data, adding interviews and focus group discussions could be very useful in aligning the students’ experiences with the statistics. Qualitative data in alignment with quantitative data could improve the interpretation and especially enrich the understanding of identified associations of variables. Implications and Conclusion The research was carried out to study the relative use of different coping styles among international students and its repercussions for their psychological well-being. The results show a significant relationship between coping styles and psychological wellbeing. Also, the study found a relatively high percentage of students, approximately 40%, below the cutoff score on psychological wellbeing signaling a depressive state. Improving students’ coping strategies may be an efficient way to improve their psychological well-being in academic/university and general life contexts. For example, it might be helpful to explain to students the benefits and costs of using different coping

strategies. The application of specific programs such as stress management programs and well-being strategies among students may improve individual and academic outcomes (Wang et al. 2007; Salami 2010). The scope of counseling services should be widened to address the needs of international students. In this context, counselors having experience in dealing with multicultural populations can play an important role. Also, international students should be made aware of the counseling services available on campus through different outreach programs. International students are less likely than domestic students to use counseling services (Hyun et al. 2007). Counselors could make themselves more readily accessible to the international student population by attending international student gatherings and by visiting international student organization meetings to inform them about the services provided by the counseling center. Compliance with Ethical Standards Ethical approval All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Conflict of Interest interest.

The authors declare they have no conflict of

Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all the individual participants included in the study. Funding The research was not funded by any organization.

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