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Isolation Increases Anxiety for Chinese Students in US

Grace Ellsworth

   During her first year in college, Yiping Zhong began to have panic
   attacks every time she walked into class.

   For the Beijing native attending Macalester College in St. Paul,
   Minnesota, the panic attacks were just one symptom of the deep
   depression she had sunk into since arriving at college in the United
   States. In addition to binge eating and debilitating stomachaches, she
   often struggled to get out of bed in the morning and missed weeks of
   class.

   "I start to cry every night," she said, describing the illness, "I
   don't know why. Every day when it would come to that time, I just start
   crying for no reason."

   Zhong's experience is not uncommon among the more than 300,000 Chinese
   international students studying in the United States. A study conducted
   at Yale University in 2013 found that about 45% of Chinese students
   there experienced depression, while 29% experienced anxiety. Yale's
   findings echoed that of other colleges, suggesting that many Chinese
   students -- like other foreign students -- are at risk for serious
   mental health issues.

   Studying in America as an international student can be lonely and
   alienating.

   "We feel like we don't own this space because we are guests, or we come
   from the outside," said Ryan Tian from Suzhou, China, a second-year
   student at Columbia University in New York City. "We would fear that
   people who live here, own this country or own this space, Americans,
   would judge us for not understanding their culture."

   Tian said that between Chinese international students and domestic
   students there is a "sense of strangeness from both groups" that can
   prevent Chinese students from feeling comfortable at American colleges
   and universities.
   "For (Chinese students) who don't understand another country, they
   would just assume that people have a hostile sentiment because of the
   trade war or because of the economic and political stuff," Tian said,
   referring to political tensions between the U.S. and China.

   Fear of a new environment, cultural adjustment and homesickness were
   found to be among the main challenges faced by Chinese international
   students in a 2017 [1]study conducted by Syracuse University professors
   Yue Zhang ABD and Eunjoo Jung Ed.D. This was exacerbated by difficulty
   with English and academic pressure, the study said.

References

   1. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1170666.pdf

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