• editor@ijmra.in
  • ISSN[Online] : 2643-9875  ||  ISSN[Print] : 2643-9840

Volume 05 Issue 06 June 2022

Gender Differences in Mental Health of International Graduate Students
1Erick Vernon Y. Dy,2Marison Felicidad R. Dy,3Annalie L. Rosales
1Office of Counseling and Guidance, Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines
2Department of Human and Family Development Studies, College of Human Ecology University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines
3Department of Science and Technology, San Fernando City, La Union
DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmra/v5-i6-11

Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT:

The study investigated the mental health concerns, mental health states, and help-seeking behaviors of international graduate students by gender. Ninety-two respondents accomplished an online survey. The males’ main concerns were academics and finances while it was academics and other relationships for females. There is no significant gender difference in mental health states although, there are more males with 3-5 depression symptoms and moderate-severe anxiety. Both males and females were willing to seek help for their mental health concerns. Both males and females suggested the provision of university mental health services. Further, males added the need for better teacher/adviser-student relations while females added having social events. The depression and anxiety symptoms were higher for male master’s students and for female students who resided off-campus and have a family member/friend diagnosed with a mental health problem. Provision of appropriate university services to attend to the mental health needs of international students is necessary.

KEYWORDS:

international graduate students, mental health, depression, anxiety, help seeking, gender differences

REFERENCES

1) Afifi, M. (2007). Gender differences in mental health. Singapore Medical Journal, 48(5), 385-391.

2) Albert, J.R., Santos, A.G., & Vizmanos, J.F. (2018). Profile and determinants of the middle-income class in the Philippines (PIDS Discussion Paper Series No. 2018-20). Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Quezon City. https://www.pids.gov.ph

3) Beiter, R., Nash, R., McCrady, M., Rhoades, D., Linscomb, M., Clarahan, M., & Sammut, S. (2015). The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. Journal of Affective Disorders, 173, 90-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054

4) Camara, M., Bacigalupe, G., & Padilla, P. (2017). The role of social support in adolescents: are you helping me or stressing me out? International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(2), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2013.875480

5) D’Avanzo, B., Barbato, A., Erzegovesi, S., Lampertico, L., Rapisarda, F., & Valsecchi, L. (2012). Formal and informal help-seeking for mental health problems: A survey of preferences of Italian students. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 8, 47–51. https://doi.org/10.2174/1745017901208010047

6) Eaton, W., Muntaner, C., Smith, C., Tien, A., & Ybarra, M. (2004). Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: Review and revision (CESD and CESD-R). In: Maruish ME (Ed). The Use of Psychological Testing for Treatment Planning and Outcomes Assessment. 3rd ed. (pp. 363-377). Lawrence Erlbaum.

7) Evans, T., Bira, L., Gastelum, J., Weiss, L., & Vanderford, N. (2018). Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education. Nature Biotechnology, 36, 282–284. https://www.aps.org/programs/minorities/nmc/upload/MentalHealthGradEducation.pdf

8) Galderisi, S., Heinz, A., Kastrup, M. Beezhold, J., & Sartorius, N. (2015). Toward a new definition of mental health. World Psychiatry, 14(2), 231-233. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20231

9) Girmay, M. (2019). Understanding the mental and physical health needs and acculturation processes of international graduate students in the United States. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 11(Fall), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v11iFall.1071

10) Gulliver, A., Griffiths, K.M., & Christensen, H. (2010). Perceived barriers and facilitators to Mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 10, 113. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-10-113

11) Haber, F., & Griffiths, S. (2017, February 22). 5 Unique mental health stressors faced by international students. European Association for International Education. https://www.eaie.org/blog/5-mental-health-stressors-international-students.html

12) Han, X., Han, X., Luo, Q., Jacobs, S. , & Jean-Baptiste, M. (2012). Report of a mental health survey among Chinese international students at Yale University. Journal of American College Health, 61(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2012.738267

13) Hyun, J., Quinn, B., Madon, T., & Lustig, S. (2007). Mental health need, awareness, and use of counseling services among international graduate students. Journal of American College Health, 56(2), 109-118. https://doi.org/10.3200/JACH.56.2.109-118

14) Lally, J., Samaniego, R.M., & Tully, J. (2019). Mental health legislation in the Philippines: Philippine Mental Health Act. British Journal of Psychology International, 16(3),65–67. https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2018.33

15) Lee, S.A., Park, H.S., & Kim, W. (2009). Gender differences in international students' adjustment. College Student Journal, 43(4), 1217-1227. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259577827_Gender_differences_in
_international_students%27adjustment

16) Levecque, K., Anseel, F., De Beuckelaer, A., Van der Heyden, J., & Gisle, L. (2017). Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy, 46(4), 868-87 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.02.008

17) Liddon, L., Kingerlee, R., & Barry, J.A. (2017). Gender differences in preferences for psychological treatment, coping strategies, and triggers to help‐seeking. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(1), 42-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12147

18) Lynch, L., Long, M., & Moorhead, A. (2016). Young men, help-seeking, and mental health services: Exploring barriers and solutions. American Journal of Men’s Health, 12(1), 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988315619469

19) Malhotra, S., & Shah, R. (2015). Women and mental health in India: An overview. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(2), 205-211. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.161479.

20) Marlow, L.V., McGregor, L.M., Nazroo, J.Y., & Wardle, J. (2014). Facilitators and barriers to help-seeking for breast and cervical cancer symptoms: A qualitative study with an ethnically diverse sample in London. Psychooncology, 23(7), 749–757. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3464

21) Martin, L.A., Neighbors, H.W., & Griffith, D.M. (2013). The experience of symptoms of depression in men vs women: Analysis of the national comorbidity survey replication. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(10),1100-1106. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.1985

22) McLean C.P., Asnaani, A., Litz, B.T., Hofmann, & S.G. (2011). Gender differences in anxiety disorders: Prevalence, course of illness, comorbidity and burden of illness. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45, 1027-1035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.006

23) Mental Health Foundation. (2016, September 29). New survey highlights mental health Gender differences. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey-highlights-mental-health-gender-differences

24) Mewett, H.F. (2020). Vulnerability and resilience in a mobile world: The case of international students. Journal of International Students, 10(3), ix-xi. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10i3.2002

25) Mewett, H., & Sawyer, A. (2016). International students and mental health. Journal of International Students, 6(3), 661-677.

26) Oliver, M. A., Pearson, N., Coe, N., & Gunnell, D. (2005). Help-seeking behaviour in men and women with common mental health problems: Cross-Sectional study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 18(6), 297-301. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.186.4.297

27) Pain, E. (2018, March 6). Graduate students need more mental health support, study highlights. Science. https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2018/03/graduate-students-need-more-mental-health-support-new-study-highlights

28) Rohlfsen, L. & Kronenfeld, J. (2014). Gender differences in trajectories of self-rated health in middle and old age: An examination of differential exposure and differential vulnerability. Journal of Aging and Health, 26(4), 637–662. DOI:10.1177/0898264314527477 jah.sagepub.com

29) Rosenfield, S. & Smith, D. (2012). Gender and mental health: Do men and women have different amounts or types of problems? In T. Scheid & T. Brown. A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health (256-267). Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511984945.017

30) Rossler, A.R. (2018). Introduction: Gender-specific issues relative to mental illness. Psychiatric Times, 4(1), 8-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30348-0

31) Sheik, A., Ali, A.J., Abdullah, A., Mydin, A., & Zahra, M. (2017). Psychological distress: A case study on post graduate international students at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. Science International (Lahore), 29(6),1297-1300.

32) Topkaya, N. (2015). Factors influencing psychological help seeking in adults: A qualitative study. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 15(1), 21-31. https://doi.org/10.12738/estp.2015.1.2094

33) Vaswani, N. (2011). Encouraging help-seeking behaviour among young men: A literature review. Child Protection Committee, Glasgow City Council. http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=5252

34) Verma, R., Balhara, Y.P., & Gupta, C.S. (2011). Gender differences in stress response: Role of developmental and biological determinants. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 20(1): 4–10. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-6748.98407

35) Wittenberg, E. Saada, A., & Prosser, L.A. (2013). How illness affects family members: a qualitative interview survey. Patient, 6(4), 257-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40271-013-0030-3

36) World Health Organization (2019). Gender and women’s health. https://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/

37) Wu, C. (1993). Theoretical perspectives on age and gender differences in mental health: an empirical test of Taiwan. [Retrospective Theses and Dissertations]. Iowa State University. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/10289

38) Xiong, Y. (2018). An exploration of Asian international students’ mental health: Comparisons to American students and other international students in the United States. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Ohio University. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=ohiou152595195493441&disposition=inline

Volume 05 Issue 06 June 2022

There is an Open Access article, distributed under the term of the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits remixing, adapting and building upon the work for non-commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.


Our Services and Policies

Authors should prepare their manuscripts according to the instructions given in the authors' guidelines. Manuscripts which do not conform to the format and style of the Journal may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected.

The Journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication so that it conforms to the formatting requirements of the Journal.

International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis will publish 12 monthly online issues per year,IJMRA publishes articles as soon as the final copy-edited version is approved. IJMRA publishes articles and review papers of all subjects area.

Open access is a mechanism by which research outputs are distributed online, Hybrid open access journals, contain a mixture of open access articles and closed access articles.

International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis initiate a call for research paper for Volume 07 Issue 05 (May 2024).

PUBLICATION DATES:
1) Last Date of Submission : 26 May 2024 .
2) Article published within a week.
3) Submit Article : editor@ijmra.in or Online

Why with us

International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis is better then other journals because:-
1 : IJMRA only accepts original and high quality research and technical papers.
2 : Paper will publish immediately in current issue after registration.
3 : Authors can download their full papers at any time with digital certificate.

The Editors reserve the right to reject papers without sending them out for review.

Authors should prepare their manuscripts according to the instructions given in the authors' guidelines. Manuscripts which do not conform to the format and style of the Journal may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. The Journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication so that it conforms to the formatting requirements of the Journal.

Indexed In
Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar