Social support discourse for international students in an Australian tertiary context

Acculturative stress caused by cultural transition can lead to huge pressure for international students in a new sociocultural environment. These pressures are significantly associated with such negative emotions as homesickness, loneliness, anxiety and depression. In order to alleviate their acculturative stress and enhance their psychological and social wellbeing, effective social support is needed to help them successfully adapt to the new environment. In this study, a total of 20 international students and 5 university staff participated in the semi-structured interviews regarding their understanding of social support system for international students in a regional area in Australia. Four important sources of social support were identified in this study: family, friend, university and community. Due to different functional characteristics, each source plays distinct roles in assisting international students. Evaluation to these sources of social support was also discussed in this study.