The Adjustment Problems Faced by International Students in the United States: A Comparison of International Students and Administrative Perceptions at Two Private, Religiously Affiliated Universities

Abstract

International students and the faculty and administrators charged with their oversight were surveyed at two religiously affiliated, private universities to determine the extent of their adjustment problems in the United States. Although the international students were found to have only minor adjustment problems in the twelve areas covered by the Michigan International Student Problem Inventory, university administrators and faculty consistently overestimated the extent of these problems and misunderstood the relative importance of the various problem areas. Hierarchical regression analysis was then used to decompose the variation in student problems into demographic and English language components, where results revealed that problems with the English language were the largest single determinant of international student problems, followed in effect size by marital status and country of origin.