TPC Journal Volume 11 Issue 2

The Professional Counselor | Volume 11, Issue 2 175 Given the paucity of counseling research on IGSCs’ psychosocial strengths, this section includes inquiries from non-counseling studies and also those that address the larger international student community. A review of the literature suggested there are two broad themes of psychological strengths— interpersonal strengths and intrapersonal strengths. Interpersonal Strengths In the context of academic advising, He and Hutson (2018) found that Chinese international students in their study relied on their families’ support to overcome adversities and persist in their academic programs. Families’ significant efforts (e.g., financial and emotional support) to send their children abroad fueled the participants to make the most of their education in the United States (He & Hutson, 2018). Similarly, within the field of psychology, Moores and Popadiuk (2011) observed that as international students in the study navigated through stress in the host country, their families’ support was a reminder of their cultural identity. In addition to families, international students’ friendships are potentially another asset. Given that they experience multiple sociopolitical stressors (Anandavalli et al., 2020), these students rely on each other for support (e.g., Wang & Hannes, 2014). Adopting an international relations perspective, Wang and Hannes (2014) noted their participants made plans to cook meals together and invited one another to cultural events to avoid the effects of isolation in a foreign country. The findings were used to inform faculty and policy makers in the Flemish community. Intrapersonal Strengths Scholars have also identified international students’ intrapersonal strengths, including hardiness, personal growth initiative (Yakunina et al., 2013), and a deep desire to succeed (Wick et al., 2019). Yakunina et al. (2013) gathered data from over 300 international students in the United States to test if personal growth initiative (drive to improve oneself), hardiness (resilience), and universal–diverse orientation (ability to appreciate cultural similarities and differences) predicted the students’ acculturative stress and adjustment in the United States. Their sample included international students from diverse ethnic, educational, and linguistic backgrounds. The researchers found that participants’ personal growth initiative predicted their adjustment in the United States. Relatedly, Yakunina and colleagues also found that hardiness had a positive effect on adjustment and an underlying impact on participants’ levels of acculturative stress. Furthermore, international students’ universal–diverse orientation determined the extent of their adjustment. Thus, participants who reported greater universal–diverse orientation tended to experience reduced acculturative stress, which in turn predicted better adjustment. Adopting an interdisciplinary and critical perspective to studying abroad, Wick and colleagues (2019) found that undergraduate Latinx students from the United States leveraged multiple strengths during their study abroad experience. In this study, Wick and colleagues employed Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth theory to identify participants’ potential strengths. Wick and colleagues noted that the participants effectively used their familiarity with Latinx cultures, Spanish language, and a deep desire to succeed in helping them make the most of their study abroad experiences. Wick and colleagues also noted that the international students experienced personal growth and reported additional strengths such as a heightened sense of social responsibility and critical consciousness , or a deeper understanding of how oppression and marginalization impact lived experiences. Purpose of the Present Study Although knowledge of international students’ psychosocial strengths has been documented in related fields, data on the same in counseling is limited. Consequently, counselors are ill-equipped to utilize