Acculturative stress, academic burnout and academic engagement in international students: the roles of mental toughness and scholarship status

Purpose Previous research has highlighted the challenges facing international students. This study investigated associations between acculturative stress, academic burnout, academic engagement and mental toughness (MT), and differences based on scholarship status. Design/methodology/approach A total of 133 international master’s students originating from 49 different countries and studying across 25 distinct cities in the United Kingdom (57.8% women, Mage = 28.45 years), the majority of whom were recipients of highly competitive scholarships, completed measures of acculturative stress, academic burnout, engagement and MT. Findings Linear regression analysis showed that MT was associated with lower levels of acculturative stress and burnout and higher levels of engagement. Scholarship students displayed higher levels of some aspects of MT and lower acculturative stress. Originality/value The findings suggest that MT may aid in reducing stress related to studying abroad and help to maintain academic engagement, and thus MT interventions should be explored in this population. However, there were, limitations associated with the study, including the diversity of the sample and confounding variables. Further research is therefore needed to explore MT in international students, and differences between scholarship and non-scholarship students, which might inform the development of interventions.