Acculturative Stress in International Students: A Case of Russian Universities

International students move from their home countries to different countries and experience multiple transitions which results in what some authors refer to as culture shock or acculturative stress. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which International students in Russia are affected by stressors in a new environment. Acculturative stress has been generally associated with risk factors such as perceived discrimination, cultural distance (Wei et al., 2008; Eustace, 2007) and preventive factors like social support, mainstream acculturation and language proficiency (Hobfoll & Vaux, 1993; Yeh & Inose, 2003), but very little has been studied concerning International students in Russia, especially African international students. The current study used the technique of convenient sampling to obtain a final sample of 125 students from universities in Russia. At the end of the study, it was revealed there was no statistical difference in acculturative stress levels between African international students and international students from other countries. Mainstream acculturation was linked positively with acculturative stress and no significant correlation existed between acculturative stress and language proficiency as well as social support. A negative correlation existed between acculturative stress and perceived discrimination with a positive association between acculturative stress and cultural distance. Finally, the relationship between mainstream acculturation and acculturative stress was moderated by social support where social support served a buffering effect. Implications and future directions are discussed.