The role of social support and sociocultural adjustment for international students’ mental health

Abstract

The study aims to assess the role of social support, sociocultural adjustment, and other social anddemographic factors in international students’ mental health. In total, 193 international first-yearstudents studying Health and Technology Sciences in Lithuania filled out a self-report questionnaire.The study revealed that overall 59% of international students had symptoms of depression and36%—of anxiety. Students’ well-being was sufficient in 56% of the cases. The regression analyseswere conducted to test the role of sociocultural adjustment, social support, English reading skills,and the study field for mental health and well-being. The multivariate regression model revealedthat sociocultural adjustment is a stronger predictor compared to social support for depressiveness(βs = 0.42), anxiety (βs = 0.30), psychosomatic symptoms (βs = − 0.24), and subjective health (βs = 0.16),though social support was a stronger independent predictor for well-being (βs = 0.37). Moreover,sociocultural adjustment and social support were stronger predictors than gender, while Englishreading skills and study field were non-significant indicators.