An Exploration of Relational Well-Being of African International Students at a South African University

Abstract

Students are often faced with high academic pressures that create high levels of distress and anxiety, leading to low levels of psychological well-being. International students, in particular, are more susceptible to threats to their psychological well-being as their immigrant status in host societies exposes them to unique challenges such as language difficulties, cultural differences, social isolation, and discrimination to list a few. Relationships are an important component of individuals’ well-being, and the contribution of relationships to international students’ well-being has been largely neglected in the literature. As such, the overall aim of this study was to explore the experiences of relational well-being of African international students at a South African university. African international students were specifically selected given the propensity for discrimination against African migrants in South Africa which might expose African international students to greater threats to their well-being relative to other international student populations. This study was part of a larger study on relationships, meaning, and well-being. Both studies adopted a qualitative design wherein semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data, and the transcripts of 16 out of 28 participants (ave. age = 24; females = 5; males = 11) were selected from the larger study’s data set for the purposes of the analysis in this study. To make sense of the findings, thematic analysis was used and from the findings arrived upon through the analysis, it was concluded that African international students have reciprocal positive relationships with local and other immigrant students that contribute to well-being outcomes in the social, psychological, and educational domains. In addition, it was discovered that institutional culture and the availability of spaces that provide opportunities for interaction are important determinants of relational experiences in the university campus space. It was thus recommended that efforts should be made to create more spaces in which African international students could engage and interact with a diverse group of students to encourage relationship formation.