Mary Christie Institute: Prof. Hahm On Making Asian International Student Mental Health a U.S. College Priority
In her recent op-ed for Mary Christie Institute, professor of social work Hyeouk Chris Hahm called universities in the United States to make Asian international student mental health a high priority. She cites a BU School of Social Work study conducted by the school’s AWARE Lab and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, whose qualitative data of 19 international students of Asian descent showed alarming rates of mental health symptoms caused by anti-Asian hate. However, Hahm points out that these students already faced high levels of discrimination prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. These trends, combined with a reluctance to seek mental health services due to stigma, language barriers, and other issues, make it all the more urgent for educational institutions to address international student mental health directly.
Excerpt from “The Mental Health of Asian International Students Should Be a Priority for US Colleges” by Hyeouk Hahm, first published in Mary Christie Institute
There are currently over a million international undergraduate and graduate students attending higher education institutions in the United States, making up 5.5% of all enrollments. This highly sought-after group of students has brought scholarship diversity, global perspective, and steady tuition to American higher education. But as these numbers start to decline amidst the xenophobia, misinformation, and travel restrictions accompanying COVID-19 in America, it is clear that colleges and universities will need to do more to retain and attract international students, starting with supporting their mental health
With the pandemic’s uneven influence on ethnic and socio-economic groups, international students have unique needs related to their experiences during COVID, particularly students from Asian countries…
Since the pandemic, these international students have been dealing with a new level of threat of racial discrimination and “othering,” elevating their hardships and exacerbating existing stressors. Repeated descriptions of COVID-19 as the “Kung-flu” or “Chinese virus” have led to devastating consequences, resulting in blatant acts of discrimination, such as vandalism, physical and verbal assault, and murder of individuals of Asian descent. As schools across the country closed down at the beginning of the pandemic, international students were forced to adapt to unexpected transitions and obstacles which impacted their stress levels and worsened their mental health.”