Volume 11, Issue 9 (September 2024), Pages: 184-191
----------------------------------------------
Original Research Paper
Cultural adaptation challenges, academic stress, and social support: A study of Saudi students in Malaysia
Author(s):
Ateeq Zaeed M. Alshammari *
Affiliation(s):
College of Education, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia
Full text
Full Text - PDF
* Corresponding Author.
Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4831-8784
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2024.09.020
Abstract
This study explores the specific challenges faced by Saudi students studying in Malaysia, particularly the pressures related to achieving their academic goals abroad. Previous research has often looked at the general factors affecting international students' experiences but has not deeply examined the unique challenges faced by Saudi students who are studying abroad on scholarships. This research aims to identify the difficulties these students face in adapting to a new culture, understand how these challenges relate to their academic stress, evaluate the role of social support in easing this stress, and consider how this knowledge could help develop better support strategies for Saudi students in Malaysia. The research was conducted using a questionnaire given to a group of Saudi students in Malaysia. The findings indicate that social support helps lessen the link between cultural adaptation difficulties and academic stress, which is an important factor affecting their academic success and overall well-being. These results are significant as they can help improve the academic achievement and well-being of international students.
© 2024 The Authors. Published by IASE.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords
Cultural adaptation, Academic stress, Social support, Saudi students, Higher education in Malaysia
Article history
Received 24 February 2024, Received in revised form 11 June 2024, Accepted 14 September 2024
Acknowledgment
No Acknowledgment.
Compliance with ethical standards
Ethical considerations
All participants provided informed consent, and their confidentiality was maintained throughout the study. The research followed ethical guidelines, and no risks were posed to participants.
Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Citation:
Alshammari AZM (2024). Cultural adaptation challenges, academic stress, and social support: A study of Saudi students in Malaysia. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 11(9): 184-191
Permanent Link to this page
Figures
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Tables
Table 1 Table 2
----------------------------------------------
References (33)
- Al Sultan A, Alharbi A, Mahmoud S, and Elsharkasy A (2023). The mediating role of psychological capital between academic stress and well-being among University students. Pegem Journal of Education and Instruction, 13(2): 335-344. https://doi.org/10.47750/pegegog.13.02.37 [Google Scholar]
- Alduraywish S, Alburikan A, Alotaibi M, Alhamoudi A, Aldosari A, Alturki M, Alotaibi A, and Tharkar S (2023). Association between academic stress during exam period, dietary behavior and bowel symptoms among medical students in Saudi Arabia. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 22: 101318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2023.101318 [Google Scholar]
- Alotaibi AD, Alosaimi FM, Alajlan AA, and Abdulrahman KAB (2020). The relationship between sleep quality, stress, and academic performance among medical students. Journal of Family and Community Medicine, 27(1): 23-28. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfcm.JFCM_132_19 [Google Scholar]
- Alotiby AA (2022). The correlation between stress levels among undergraduate medical students and their motivation for studying medicine. Education Research International, 2022: 1605435. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/1605435 [Google Scholar]
- Al-Shagawi MA, Ahmad R, Naqvi AAA, and Ahmad N (2017). Determinants of academic stress and stress-related selfmedication practice among undergraduate male pharmacy and medical students of a tertiary educational institution in Saudi Arabia. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 16(12): 2997-3003. https://doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v16i12.26 [Google Scholar]
- Alshehri M (2022). Potential changes in Saudi students’ motivations and attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language after immersion in an l2 learning environment. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 4(1): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.32996/jeltal.2022.4.1.1 [Google Scholar]
- Al-Sowygh ZH (2013). Academic distress, perceived stress and coping strategies among dental students in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Dental Journal, 25(3): 97-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sdentj.2013.05.002 [Google Scholar] PMid:24179318 PMCid:PMC3809483
- Alyami M, Melyani Z, Johani AA, Ullah E, Alyami H, Sundram F, Hill A, and Henning M (2017). The impact of self-esteem, academic self-efficacy and perceived stress on academic performance: A cross-sectional study of Saudi psychology students. The European Journal of Educational Sciences, 4(3): 51-63. https://doi.org/10.19044/ejes.v4no3a5 [Google Scholar]
- Ashton-Hay SA, Lamberton G, Zhou Y, and von der Heidt T (2022). Bilingual learning strategies to support Chinese EAL business students. Journal of International Education in Business, 15(2): 290-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIEB-10-2020-0083 [Google Scholar]
- Chaiyasat C (2020). Overseas students in Thailand: A qualitative study of cross-cultural adjustment of French exchange students in a Thai university context. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 30(8): 1060-1081. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2020.1792386 [Google Scholar]
- Das PPP and Sahoo R (2012). Stress and depression among post-graduate students. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publication, 2(7): 1-5. [Google Scholar]
- Gadzella B M (1994). Student-life stress inventory: Identification of and reactions to stressors. Psychological Reports, 74(2): 395-402. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1994.74.2.395 [Google Scholar] PMid:8197278
- GulRaihan M and Sandaran SC (2017). Sociocultural adaptation challenges of international students at a higher learning institution in Malaysia. LSP International Journal, 4(2): 85-101. https://doi.org/10.11113/lspi.v4n2.58 [Google Scholar]
- Jameel T, Baig M, Tariq S, Gazzaz ZJ, Butt NS, Althagafi NK, Hazazi EY, and Alsayed RS (2022). Psychosocial, cultural, and academic challenges to Saudi Arabian students in Australia. PLOS ONE, 17(1): e0262585. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262585 [Google Scholar] PMid:35100274 PMCid:PMC8803179
- Joseph M and Sudhesh NT (2023). Academic stress, social support, and adjustment among international students in India. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 15(3): 5-17. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v15i3.4756 [Google Scholar]
- Khalil AM, Almutairi NM, Alhejaili SS, Alsaedi MQ, and Alharbi WK (2020). Prevalence of stress and its association with body weight among medical students in Taibah University. Pharmacophore, 11(4): 36-45. [Google Scholar]
- Ladum A and Burkholder GJ (2019). Psychological adaptation of international students in the northern part of Cyprus. Higher Learning Research Communications, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.18870/hlrc.v9i1.436 [Google Scholar]
- Leonard NR, Gwadz MV, Ritchie A, Linick JL, Cleland CM, Elliott L, and Grethel M (2015). A multi-method exploratory study of stress, coping, and substance use among high school youth in private schools. Frontiers in Psychology, 6: 140070. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01028 [Google Scholar] PMid:26257685 PMCid:PMC4511824
- Liu Y, Chen J, Chen K, Liu J, and Wang W (2023). The associations between academic stress and depression among college students: A moderated chain mediation model of negative affect, sleep quality, and social support. Acta Psychologica, 239: 104014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104014 [Google Scholar] PMid:37633175
- McLean L, Gaul D, and Penco R (2023). Perceived social support and stress: A study of 1st year students in Ireland. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 21(4): 2101-2121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00710-z [Google Scholar] PMid:35103049 PMCid:PMC8791695
- Mukti SAS and Ansyah EH (2023). The relationship between parental social support and academic stress in university students. Indonesian Journal of Innovation Studies, 21: 10-21070. https://doi.org/10.21070/ijins.v21i.813 [Google Scholar]
- Ng TK, Wang KWC, and Chan W (2017). Acculturation and cross-cultural adaptation: The moderating role of social support. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 59: 19-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.012 [Google Scholar]
- Prasad J, Goswami A, Kumbhani B, Mishra C, Tyagi H, Jun JH, Choudhary KK, Kumar M, James N, Reddy VR, and Singh SJ (2018). Engineering curriculum development based on education theories. Current Science, 114(9): 1829-1834. https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v114/i09/1829-1834 [Google Scholar]
- Prayitno HA and Andayani B (2023). The relationship between peer social support and academic stress among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. ANIMA Indonesian Psychological Journal, 38(1): 86-104. https://doi.org/10.24123/aipj.v38i1.4711 [Google Scholar]
- Radhakrishnan BL, Kirubakaran E, Belfin RV, Selvam S, Sagayam KM, and Elngar AA (2021). Mental health issues and sleep quality of Indian employees and higher education students during COVID-19 lockdown. International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, 9(2): 193-210. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIEI.2021.10040086 [Google Scholar]
- Rathakrishnan B, Bikar Singh SS, Kamaluddin MR, Ghazali MF, Yahaya A, Mohamed NH, and Krishnan AR (2021). Homesickness and socio-cultural adaptation towards perceived stress among international students of a public university in Sabah: An exploration study for social sustainability. Sustainability, 13(9): 4924. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094924 [Google Scholar]
- Restrepo JE, Cardona EYB, Montoya GPC, Bardales MDLMC, and Alemán YPV (2023). Academic stress and adaptation to university life: mediation of cognitive-emotional regulation and social support. Anales de Psicología/Annals of Psychology, 39(1): 62-71. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.472201 [Google Scholar]
- Shahin MA (2020). Emotional intelligence and perceived stress among students in Saudi health colleges: A cross-sectional correlational study. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 15(6): 463-470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.09.001 [Google Scholar] PMid:33318737 PMCid:PMC7715469
- Sharma S and Gupta B (2023). Investigating the role of technostress, cognitive appraisal and coping strategies on students' learning performance in higher education: A multidimensional transactional theory of stress approach. Information Technology and People, 36(2): 626-660. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-06-2021-0505 [Google Scholar]
- Ullah MS, Akhter S, Aziz MA, and Islam M (2023). Social support: Mediating the emotional intelligence-academic stress link. Frontiers in Psychology, 14: 1218636. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218636 [Google Scholar] PMid:37736153 PMCid:PMC10509480
- Ward C and Geeraert N (2016). Advancing acculturation theory and research: The acculturation process in its ecological context. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8: 98-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.021 [Google Scholar]
- Yu X, Xiong F, Zhang H, Ren Z, Liu L, Zhang L, and Zhou Z (2023). The effect of social support on depression among economically disadvantaged college students: The mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating role of geography. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4): 3053. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043053 [Google Scholar] PMid:36833745 PMCid:PMC9965511
- Zimet GD, Dahlem NW, Zimet SG, and Farley GK (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52(1): 30-41. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5201_2 [Google Scholar]
|