As universities across the western world attract an ever growing proportion of international students, there has been an understandable desire to ensure these two cohorts have the same opportunities to thrive.  New research from the University of Buffalo suggests that self-esteem is a vital ingredient if international students are to make the most of their opportunity.

“Self-esteem affords confidence,” the researchers explain. “So people higher in self-esteem have more belief in themselves and their abilities, and that is particularly helpful when trying to initiate contact with people from the host culture.”

Interestingly, however, while this self-esteem appeared to boost interactions with local students, it was not especially helpful in interacting with fellow international students.

Finding one’s identity

The researchers also examined the role the identity of the university plays.  This is the degree to which students felt connected to their university community, and perhaps unsurprisingly this was linked to the degree to which they socialized with both local and international students on campus, albeit the effect was not as strong as that associated with self-esteem.

The researchers believe their work is important, as they suggest that previous research hasn’t really looked at the various predictors of socialization collectively.  Nor, indeed, have they examined the divergence between domestic and international students.

“This approach allowed for a specific test of what predicts socialization with each student group, above and beyond an individual’s general level of sociability,” they explain.

The analysis found that international students often regard socializing with local students as a key factor of their experience at university, but this aspiration is often unfulfilled due to a range of barriers, including difficulties in adapting culturally and in navigating the challenges of higher education itself.

If these challenges can be overcome, however, then socialization promises a number of benefits to international students.  These include lower rates of depression and homesickness, as well as better stress management and higher levels of life satisfaction.

The authors believe their findings will hopefully prompt universities to do more to promote social connections and a sense of a shared experience between their domestic and international students.  They should especially target students who may be suffering from low self-esteem to provide additional support so they don’t feel as though they’re missing out.

“International students who fall short of the expected connection with U.S. students are clearly disappointed, but there’s also a loss for the domestic student population, entering a global community, who are deprived of the benefits associated with interacting with people from varied and different backgrounds,” the authors conclude.  “Domestic students, in this case, are undoubtedly losing out, by not getting to know international students.”