Overall Life Satisfaction and Help-Seeking Attitudes of Turkish College Students in the United States: Implications for College Counselors.

This study examined the effects of acculturation, beliefs about mental illness, and selected demographic variables on the help-seeking attitudes of 120 Turkish students who were attending college in the United States. the authors maintain that if mental health professionals increase their understanding of Turkish international students, they can then develop more effective services for this population. International students attend more than 2,500 U.S. institutions of higher education, and there are more international students enrolled annually in universities in the United States than in any other country in the world. During the 2000-2001 academic year, the number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities was 547,867, 3.9% of the total enrollment in U.S. higher education. This represents the highest number of international students ever enrolled in the United States, a 6.4% increase over the previous academic year (Institute of International Education, 2002). Because of the high cost of pursuing an education in the U.S. for these students (typically 4 times as expensive as for domestic students) and because of immense pressure to succeed academically from their families, sponsoring organizations, or governments, international students may be at particular risk for stress-related mental and physical difficulties (Aubrey, 1991). Findings from previous studies supported the notion that international students, as a whole, are more at risk for both physical and psychological problems than are their domestic counterparts. International students often face language barriers, immigration difficulties, culture shock, social adjustment, loneliness, and homesickness (Mon, 2000). In spite of these difficulties, international students underutilize college counseling centers, and when they do seek counseling, they are often dissatisfied and tend to drop out prematurely (Mori, 2000; Zhang, 2000). Reasons include a cultural value orientation that discourages seeking professional help, as well as differing cultural perceptions of mental health and mental illness (Manheim, 1996). Thus, it is essential to provide counseling to international students that is sensitive and congruent with their cultural values and worldviews (Brinson & Kottler, 1995). Mental Health and Mental Illness in Turkish Students In the present study, college students from Turkey were surveyed to better understand their overall life satisfaction and their help-seeking attitudes and behaviors. Turkey now ranks ninth among countries that send college students to study in the U.S. each year. The number of Turkish students in the U.S. has increased significantly to 10,983 in 2000-2001, an increase from 4,978 in 1992-1993 (Institute of International Education, 2002). In spite of the increasing numbers, the Turkish student population in the U.S. has rarely been studied, and not much is known about the adjustment problems and help-seeking behavior of these students (Towle & Arslanoglu, 1998). The general lack of knowledge about perceptions of mental health and mental illness and ways of coping among Turkish individuals has been linked to the relatively new status of the psychological and psychiatric professions in Turkey (Yazgan, 1997). The few available studies of attitudes of Turkish students were conducted in Turkey. Taken together, these studies suggested that Turkish college students do not fully understand on-campus counseling services because they have not been exposed to these services at universities in their home country. Demir and Aydin (1996) and Guneri and Skovholt (1999) noted that Turkish students did not know the function of counseling and were reluctant to use the services when they were provided. Erkin (1994) reported that 51% of students at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey lacked information about the function of the counseling center, although when informed of the services, 94% stated that they had high or moderate needs for them. …