Psycho-social predictors of acculturative stress and adjustment in Pakistani Institutions

OBJECTIVES: The main objective of study was to investigate the effect of psycho-social predictors on acculturative stress and adjustment in Pakistani institutions. METHODS: The study was carried out from November 15, 2016 to January 18, 2019. For this purpose data was collected from 450 international students who were studying in public and private sector universities of Pakistan and who experienced acculturative stress. The instruments include Relationship Assessment Scale, Acculturative Stress Scale for International, Psychological Adaptation Scale, and Revised Socio Cultural Adaptation Scale. The proposed model was tested by using SPSS (Version-23) and AMOS (Version-9). RESULTS: Findings of the study revealed that relationship satisfaction (p<0.05), length of stay (p<0.05), and financial support (p<0.05) significantly negatively predicted acculturative stress. Financial support significantly positively predicted psychological adjustment (p<0.05). Employment status did not predict acculturative stress, psychological and socio-cultural adjustment (p>0.05). Moreover, all psycho-social predictors did not show effect on socio-cultural adjustment among international students (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that general relationship satisfaction, more length of stay in host country, and financial support are very important for international students to manage their acculturative stress and to adjust better in a new cultural environment.