Can you have it all? Maintaining work-life balance as an international student

It is overwhelming to think that I only have four months left before going to “real” life. Working at corporate America has always been my lifelong dream, and while I am extremely excited, I am also scared of the challenges that I will face and how I would overcome them without the help of my family as I am geographically away from them. The idea that I would not be able to call my mom immediately whenever I need help due to the time difference worried me. The working environment is new and complicated. I am clueless about how I would behave in front of my boss, or how to be likable and approachable. The interview-based research article “Study-Work-Life Balance of International Students in the Context of Temporal Boundaries'' seeks to explain the experience of study-work-life balance (SWLB) among international students and how temporal boundaries such as time differences affect their social experience. This article is helpful not only for me but also for students who will work in the U.S. post-graduation. 

According to Abbott, SWLB is “a state where an individual manages real or potential conflicts between different demands on his/her time and energy in a way that satisfies his/her needs for wellbeing and self-fulfillment.” (Mahony, et.al., 64) In short, it is a state where individuals effectively arrange their time to equally prioritize their professional and personal lives. This definition is subjective as it depends on the person’s life and goals. For example, to me, SWLB means being able to cook and clean on the weekend without having anxiety about the tasks that I have to do for the following week. However, a close friend of mine who is having a full-time job believes that SWLB means not scheduling a call or meeting during the weekend. While the definition varies, we all want a common goal of maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle while being able to financially support ourselves. 

A number of studies have shown that when dealing with stress or challenges, international students usually seek help from family or friends from their home country, rather than connecting with other local students or co-workers and using local resources such as therapy (Mahony, et.al., 66). This means international students depend greatly on the help and advice from their parents and friends. Thus, the boundaries created by time zone differences separate international students from their source of support to achieve SWLB and may cause impaired sleep and work schedules. As a result, students report a low degree of belongingness as they cannot seek help immediately from their home country due to the time difference and unable to communicate with locals due to language and cultural barriers. Thus, it is challenging for international students to maintain SWLB. 

This study is conducted on ten international students to see how temporal boundaries affect them socially and personally. It found that nearly all interviewees had to establish routines to effectively communicate with their social support in their home countries. Nevertheless, this weekly or monthly plan is subject to the work or study schedule of that individual. One student stated that “at the moment I don’t contact anyone […] because I need to save my energy on the things I need to focus on. [...]once I finish I would contact everyone immediately to make it up and catch up.” (Mahony, et.al., 72). This lack of support may negatively impact students such as decreasing work quality or lower grades in class as they have to face the problems by themselves. I found this very true as I sometimes feel exhausted from dealing with challenges, while I am bone-tired inside, I force myself to appear strong as I have no family or close friends to “catch me if I fall.” This has led to long-term consequences such as anxiety, depression and I sometimes cry myself to sleep. 

In the discussion section, the authors point out possible solutions to this problem such as “increasing the number of social events for international postgraduates (rather than undergraduates), improving expectation setting and management increasing (to clarify what hours are required, the support that is needed and available).”(Mahony, et.al., 75). I found this solution is suitable for UCSB as we still allow alumni to utilize the school resources such as career services within the grace period of one year. While it is not necessary to create a new resource due to the lack of demands as we are unsure how many students will use our support system, UCSB can implement training for staffs and faculty, whether in the CAPS or Student Support Center department, to take and ensure that students have the support they need to ensure a smooth transition from academic life to the working world.  

I believe that this is an important aspect of international student’s experience in the U.S. and yet, there is not a lot of study regarding this problem. This is in fact one of the first research to examine the SWLB of international students postgraduate. I think that with an effective support system, universities and companies can help students to overcome this matter. It is crucial to assure that students do not feel lonely and have to sacrifice their time to prioritize work or study over mental health. 

Work Cited: 

O'Mahony, Megan A., and Debora Jeske. "Study-Work-Life Balance of International Students in the Context of Temporal Boundaries." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, vol. 7, no. 2, 2019, p. 63+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A647537176/OVIC?u=fresnocc&sid=OVIC&xid=ad6a4c7c. Accessed 16 Feb. 2021.