Mental Health of International Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Mental Health of International Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic

-- Haochen Long

As pharmaceutical companies worldwide start manufacturing and vaccines for Covid-19, a silver lining seems to appear, as the end of the global pandemic finally comes near. While celebrating this collaborative progress, I think it is important to recap what international students had gone through in the past year. Specifically, I want to discuss our global scholars' psychological and mental stress during this crisis. From my personal experiences as an international student at UCSB, I have experienced and witnessed three leading causes of psychological pressure in the international student community during Covid-19.

The first source of stress comes from the language barrier. Adapting to a higher-education level learning environment in-person already creates enormous pressure for international students. This situation was exacerbated in an online learning environment as many instructors excessively increased work and reading loads. Some professors worry that designing difficult questions on tests has lost value because students may look up answers or use outside resources anyway. They have claimed that, instead, increasing the number of questions and shortening the time frame would require students to react fast without the time to online. However, this method for precaution puts a heavy burden on international students. For instance, a reading that might take a domestic student 1 hour to complete might require international students to put in hours of work to look up vocabularies and sentences. Students also cannot ask for clarifications in recorded lectures regarding the professor's choices of words and pronunciations. The remote and sometimes asynchronous format also prevents them from forming healthy and educative relationships with faculty and their domestic peers. 

The second source of stress comes from crises originating at home. This situation was especially prevalent in 2020 when international traffic shut down, and the pandemic was on its rampage. When a family member becomes severely ill, or other incidents strike back at home, international students living far away may find themselves unable to help. What happens a lot of the time then is that students often feel guilty that they cannot support their families. They ultimately are faced with the difficult choice of either risking their education to go back or staying in the host country sacrificing their connection with home. Living under such circumstances could be emotionally draining and mentally unhealthy. 

Finally, international students under the past year's exceptional circumstances are also most vulnerable to health risks and illness. It is evident that medical conditions can impact all students' performance across multiple domains, including academia. However, for international students, the language barrier and a lack of knowledge of the host country's medical system and practices also expose them to additional health risks. They essentially have no support system of friends and families and are often faced with a lack of protective supplies such as masks and sanitizers.

A study conducted by the European Association for International Education (EAIE) demonstrates that International students are particularly vulnerable to developing mental illnesses such as anxiety, mood, and stress-related disorders. The study demonstrates that acculturative stress and crisis coming from both students’ home and host countries are the primary sources of mental and psychological health risks threatening the community. According to experts in both psychology and education, "these illnesses can impact students' functioning across multiple domains, including academia." (Harber, et al, 2020) Overall, the past year of 2020 has indeed been a challenge for international students. It is essential to learn from past traumatic experiences to prepare ourselves if a similar crisis might arise again. It is crucial to start fixing the current system so that our Global Gauchos do not have to fall into such dire situations in the future.

References 

Harber, Frank, and Stephanie Griffiths. “5 Unique Mental Health Stressors Faced by 

International Students.” EAIE, 22 Feb. 2017, www.eaie.org/blog/5-mental-health-stressors-international-students.html.