This volume examines relevant mental health issues for international students. It explores the underlying motivations for pursuing foreign study, and profiles the nature of acculturative strategies, acculturative stress experiences and mental health of international students. The book also examines the mediating and buffering roles of psychological capital and the efficacy of institutional and social support networks of international students against mental health and acculturative stress as they navigate educational pursuits abroad. This volume is an important contribution to understanding the experience of international students, as well as to the general understanding of acculturative strategies, acculturative stress, and mental health. It is relevant for social psychologists, clinical psychologists, educators, international students, students and researchers in general.

Examines student motivation for pursuing international study Explores the nature and relationship between acculturative strategies, stress, and mental health Adopts a comparative and mixed-method approach, using surveys and group interviews

Autorentext

Erhabor Sunday Idemudia

Formerly the Head and Subject Chair, Department of Psychology, Prof (Dr). Erhabor Idemudia is a full Research & Clinical Psychology Professor at the Faculty of the Human and Social Sciences, North-West University, South Africa. He currently Chairs BaSSREC, HSSREC and EMELTEN-REC at NWU. He has a BSc with Honours (Psychology), MSc and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is an NRF-rated established researcher/Scientist in South Africa and a recipient of the Georg-Forster Life-Time Achievement Award in Research for senior professors by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He is also an Alexander Humboldt Fellow and Alumni, Germany (since 2003), Leventis Fellow, UK, Salzburg Fellow, Austria, STIAS Fellow, South Africa, etc. He is currently the General Secretary and Registrar of Membership, World Council for Psychotherapy (African Chapter) and a Fellow and member of the Board of the World Council for Psychotherapy, Austria. He is an Associate Editor, Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD), (The Netherlands) and serves as an external examiner for several universities in Africa, Europe, and North America. He has taught and researched at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; University College, London, UK; Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany; the University of Namibia, Windhoek; University of Limpopo, South Africa; and North-West University, South Africa. Prof Idemudia has about 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including books. Prof Idemudia is a Fellow of the Nigerian Psychology Association, Fellow NACP, and in 2025 awarded a chattered Psychologist status by NPA. He is the author (with Prof Boehnke, Germany) of I'm an Alien in Deutschland: A Quantitative Mental Health Case Study of African Immigrants in Germany (2010) and Psychosocial Experiences of African migrants in Six European Countries: A Mixed method study (2020). Springer Europe. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030483463 He is a member of OECD, Informal Advisory Group on Subjective Well-being and Measurements, and a 2023 and 2024 recipient of the FSU Excellence in Research Awards. For details: www.idemudiaerhabor.com

Prof. Dr. Constance Karing currently works at the Department of Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in München. Before she was a Senior Research Associate in the Department for Research Synthesis, Intervention, and Evaluation at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. Their current projects are stress prevention with international and national students in Germany. Her research interests include stress, health and prevention, Digital Health and digital prevention, Diagnostic and prevention activities in kindergartens and schools, Teaching and Learning, Educational Psychology and Education Research. She has published extensively in reputable academic journals of wide readership. One of the many publications include Karing, C. (2024). Long-term effects of combined mindfulness intervention and app intervention compared to single interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a randomised controlled trial. Front. Psychol. 15:1355757. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1355757. She has also developed, implemented and evaluated several stress prevention interventions to address coping strategies and health-related outcomes among university national and international students, employees, and people with disabilities.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Institutional Structures and Student Migration in South Africa and Germany.- Chapter 3. Theoretical Approaches to International Student Migration: Acculturative Strategies, Acculturative Stress, and Mental Health in South Africa and Germany.- Chapter 4. Contemporary Patterns in International Student Migration in South Africa and Germany.- Chapter 5. Buffers of International Student Adaptation.- Chapter 6. Methodology.- Chapter 7. Quantitative results.- Chapter 8. Qualitative Results.- Chapter 9. Discussion.