Associated factors of acculturation strategies and mental health outcomes among international students in China

Objectives There is an increasing number of international students in China. Acculturation strategies are the way students cope with different cultures, including integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. This study aims to investigate the acculturation strategies and associated factors, and the effect of these strategies on mental health status among international students in China. Study design Cross-sectional study. Methods Study data were collected from 567 international students attending universities in China. Acculturation strategies, acculturative stress, depressive symptoms were measured using reliable and valid scales. Linear and multinomial logistic regression were used for analysis. Results Study findings revealed that integration (31.57%) was the most preferred acculturation strategy, followed by marginalization (28.92%), separation (21.87%) and assimilation (17.54%). Females were more likely to choose separation strategy than marginalization, while students with religions had higher likelihood to choose integration strategy. Students majoring in Literature/Art and liking their major were more likely to use assimilation strategy. Students with more studying time in weekdays and medium studying time in weekends were more likely to prefer integration strategy. Students with separation and integration strategy had higher acculturative stress. Conclusions Integration is the most popular acculturation strategy among international students in China. Students with separation and integration strategy had worse mental health status. Gender, major, religion, daily study time were significantly associated with the preference of acculturation strategies.