Determinants of psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students

ABSTRACT The literature on the adjustment experiences of Pakistani international students is scarce. There is a dire need to fill this gap as almost 50,000 Pakistani students are studying in Western universities. The current study aimed to identify predictors of psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students. The study was conducted on a sample of 309 Pakistani international students. A quantitative approach was utilized. Thus, an acculturative stress scale; a Big 5 personality test; and a Multidimensional scale of perceived social support; were administered to the sample of Pakistani international students, who choose to study abroad. The results of the study highlighted both positive and negative predictors of psychological adjustment. The identified positive predictors were age, perceived cultural distance, and Neuroticism while negative predictors were social support, and personality factors (consciousness and extraversion). The current study serves as an initiative to determine the acculturative stressors faced by Pakistani international students. This study has a significant theoretical contribution to Pakistani international student mobility and the associated challenges and stressors on the part of Pakistani students who decide to study abroad. The data of this study was collected online from HEC scholars only. A replication study is recommended including immigrant and self-financed Pakistani students for better generalizations. The present study would be of great interest to three stakeholders including students, universities in Pakistan, and the host universities that give admission to Pakistani students to study abroad.

ABSTRACT: The literature on the adjustment experiences of Pakistani international students is scarce. There is a dire need to fill this gap as almost 50,000 Pakistani students are studying in Western universities. The current study aimed to identify predictors of psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students. The study was conducted on a sample of 309 Pakistani international students. A quantitative approach was utilized. Thus, an acculturative stress scale; a Big 5 personality test; and a Multidimensional scale of perceived social support; were administered to the sample of Pakistani international students, who choose to study abroad. The results of the study highlighted both positive and negative predictors of psychological adjustment. The identified positive predictors were age, perceived cultural distance, and Neuroticism while negative predictors were social support, and personality factors (consciousness and extraversion). The current study serves as an initiative to determine the acculturative stressors faced by Pakistani international students. This study has a significant theoretical contribution to Pakistani international student mobility and the associated challenges and stressors on the part of Pakistani students who decide to study abroad. The data of this study was collected online from HEC scholars only. A replication study is recommended including immigrant and self-financed Pakistani students for better generalizations.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Asma Bashir is presently working as an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Psychology, the Women's University Multan. She has teaching experience for over a decade. Her current research work centers on student learning, the adjustment journey of Pakistani Muslim international students abroad, the role of prior learning in educational adjustment, and the importance of educational and institutional support to enhance the adjustment of local and international students. She is currently working on the establishment of a well-being center at her parent university. She can be reached at asma.bashir@bnu.edu.pk Ruhi Khalid is the Director of the Institute of Psychology, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. Her areas of interest are Social, Health, Clinical and Women's Issues. She is on the Editorial Board of a number of scientific journals. Her research publications include books and research articles published in national and international scientific journals of repute. She can be reached at rkhalid@bnu.edu.pk PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Currently, almost 47,164 Pakistani students have enrolled in higher education institutes abroad. It has been forecasted that Pakistan's student mobility rate would grow at a moderate level in the coming years. With this increasing trend, it is imperative to probe into the issue and inquire about social, psychological, and academic challenges perceived by Pakistani international students. Moreover, it is pertinent to inquire into the sources of support to cope with the challenges encountered. The literature focusing on these issues, particularly concerning Pakistani students is scant and the present study attempts to bridge the gap.
Another reason, which makes this community worth studying is that Pakistan is the second largest country in which 97% of residents are Muslims. The available literature exposed that in the post-9/11 US, Muslim international students are at risk to face negative attitudes (Tummala-Narra & Claudius, 2013). They encounter entry and existence level challenges including strict visa policies, strict work rules, and discrimination (OECD, 2013), which impose added challenges to the adjustment of these students (Tummala-Narra & Claudius, 2013). Such a condition calls upon an inquiry to identify the unique challenges encountered by these Muslim students studying abroad, to initiate better services for their adjustment.
The literature on the adjustment experiences of Pakistani international students is scarce. There is a dire need to fill this gap as almost 50,000 Pakistani students are studying in Western universities (Kayani et al., 2015). Recently, there has been an interest in this area and a few qualitative studies have been conducted e.g., (Ayyoub et al., 2019;Haider, 2013;Hamrick, 2007;Noreen et al., 2019). Haider (2013) explored the adjustment experiences of Pakistani graduates enrolled in US universities. The findings of this qualitative inquiry exposed that Pakistani international students chose the US for their higher education due to the prestige and high ranking of the US universities. The participants of the study choose different strategies across different situations based on their gender, elements of the host culture, religious identity, and social class to which they belonged in the home country. Gender differences were revealed in the selection of strategies as females reported more careful behavior in the said areas. Ayyoub et al. (2019) conducted a qualitative study on 18 Pakistani international students studying in various Austrian universities. The findings showed that English language skills played a significant role in the student's adjustment but insufficient local language (German) skills negatively affected the social adjustment of Pakistani students (Ayyoub et al., 2019).
Similarly, Javed () investigated Pakistani international students' learning transition and the adjustment process in the New University. The results of this qualitative inquiry exposed that the learning process was influenced by motivational patterns, earlier learning practices, and the medium of education. In another qualitative inquiry, Staton and Jalil (2017) explored the academic practices of Pakistani international scholars. The results of this inquiry revealed that studying abroad positively affected Pakistani scholars. They experienced more practical aspects of learning, i.e., going out in real-life settings, which enabled them to become a practitioner soon after completion of their degree. The learning experiences abroad also benefitted students in the home country (Staton & Jalil, 2017). Noreen et al. (2019) reported that positive attitudes by host nationals facilitated Pakistani students during their stay in China. For example, host nationals introduced Pakistani students to local markets, and provided information on travel and shopping. Due to the host nationals' positive attitudes, the Pakistani students felt socially adjusted (Noreen et al., 2019).
Nearly all these studies were qualitative and a holistic perspective of Pakistani students' adjustment, while they venture out to study abroad, remained missing. There is a need to explore the adjustment experience of this much under-researched population in detail and employ both qualitative and quantitative research designs to gain meaningful insights on the issue. It is worth mentioning that, to the best of our knowledge hardly any scientific study has examined the determinants of psychological adjustment among Pakistani students studying in various universities all across the world. It is, therefore, imperative to probe into the issue and inquire about the adjustment practices of Pakistani international students. The present study attempts to fill in the gap and examine determinants of psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students. Moreover, it is pertinent to inquire into the sources of support to cope with the challenges encountered. The literature focusing on these issues, particularly concerning Pakistani students is scant. The results of the current study will possibly contribute to the available literature that explains the adjustment experience of Pakistani students in the host society. In this respect, the present study will provide important information for educationists, higher education institutions, counselors as well as policymakers in the initiation of culturally relevant programs and services that may promote better adjustment and facilitate Pakistani students. Redfield, Linton and Herskovitz (1936) were the first to introduce the concept of acculturation. They stated that acculturation occurs when two cultures come in direct and constant contact with each other and as a result of that contact, changes occur in both cultures (Mahmood et al., 2018). It has been found that acculturation is not restricted to migrants only; students and short-term visitors also go through various stages of the acculturation process (Berry et al., 1987;Liao & Wei, 2014). Available literature also reveals that the terms such as acculturation, adjustment, adaptation, and accommodation have been used comparably (Othman, 2011;Othman et al., 2012;Searle et al., 1990).

Acculturation process and adjustment
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) added to the definition of the acculturation process (Hansen et al., 2018;Mahmood et al., 2018). According to the SSRC, during the acculturation process, an individual learns to differentiate between different values and traditions of the native and host culture, selects some aspects of the latter, conserves the chosen traditions, and tries to find a fit between one's native values and those of the host culture to survive (Mahmood et al., 2018). It is further maintained that people can carry the traditions of the host and home culture at the same time (Mahmood et al., 2018). To comprehend the acculturation process and resulting adjustment, it is necessary to review the individual (psychological) and social (sociocultural) changes in individuals resulting from the contact between two cultures (Trimble, 2003;Ward et al., 1992).

Berry's approach to adjustment
The current study aims to understand the psychological adjustment and explore the predictors of psychological adjustment of Pakistani students. It employs the Berry et al. (1987) approach (Berry et al., 1987), which is considered the most popular adjustment framework in which various variables have special significance in the process of adjustment (De Araujo, 2011;Smith & Khawaja, 2011;Zhang & Goodson, 2011) Berry's adjustment framework is based on the work by Graves (1967) and Lazarus and Folk man's stress and coping framework (1984;Ward et al., 1999). Graves (1967) redefined the paradigm of cross-cultural adjustment from the "group-level" to the "individual level" and coined the idea of "psychological adjustment". He pointed towards a behavioral and emotional transition in an individual because of contact and interaction with host nationals in the host country. He proposed that the subject matter of acculturation should be the individuals and the consequent changes in those individuals because of the acculturation process. The stress and coping framework by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), explained psychological stress as an interplay between an individual and the environment, provoking mental health issues or psychological distress in the individual (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Berry's theory suggested that acculturative stress springs from the problems encountered during the acculturation process and an inability to manage the stressors in the host country (Berry et al., 1987b). Hence, the stress triggered by the adjustment process is known as acculturative stress (Berry et al., 1987;C. L. Williams & Berry, 1991). To cope with encountered challenges, individuals use several support systems. If individuals have adequate supporting resources, acculturative stress decreases. (Akhtar & Kröner-Herwig, 2015).

Measurement of psychological adjustment
A sufficient number of studies have applied common methods, for instance, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung, 1965) or Profile of Mood States measure (McNair et al., 1971), to evaluate psychological adjustment (Demes & Geeraert, 2013). However, a problem regarding the measurement of psychological adaptation is the incongruity between their operationalization concerning the particularity of context (Demes & Geeraert, 2013). For instance, measuring psychological adjustment using depression, well-being, and mood disturbance scales may not yield accurate value, as these constructs are independent of relocation (Ward et al., 2008;Ward & Kennedy, 1993b;Ward & Bhagat, 1996). Moreover, the existence or absence of depression and anxiety does not specify individuals' satisfaction or adjustment in the host country. Therefore, it has been suggested to consider the background of the cultural transfer to measure psychological adjustment (Demes & Geeraert, 2013). Acculturative stress or the stress triggered by the adjustment process is considered a significant factor in international students' psychological adjustment (Demes & Geeraert, 2013). Consequently, the most suitable solutions to assess psychological adjustment are acculturative stress measures (Demes & Geeraert, 2013). Thus, the psychological adjustment was operationally measured through the Acculturative stress scale (Bashir & Khalid, 2020). In the current study, the acquired totals on the ASSPMSs scale define psychological adjustment. The higher score indicates higher level of acculturative stress/maladjustment and lower scores indicate a lower level of acculturative stress/ psychological adjustment.

Predictors of psychological adjustment: Literature review
The acculturation framework describes various factors to predict psychological adjustment among international students. These include the host society, the demographics of sojourners (age, sex), and social support ( Figure 1). Aside from this, the available literature also supports language proficiency, level of education, cultural distance, and length of residence in the host country as essential factors to contribute to the acculturation process (A. Bashir et al., 2019;Heggins & Jackson, 2003;Yakunina et al., 2013). According to a detailed literature review conducted between 1991 and 2010, gender, personality, social support, cultural distance, age, and length of stay in the host country have been considered the most occurring and influential ones to have an impact on the psychological adjustment of international students (De Araujo, 2011;Brunsting et al., 2018;Smith & Khawaja, 2011;Zhang & Goodson, 2011)). Hence, the present study takes into account these factors as determinants of the psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students.
Studies conducted on Pakistani international students do not take into account a wide range of factors that have been reported in the literature. Particular stressors may affect Pakistani international students more than they may affect other foreign students from around the world and vice versa (Brinkman Bashir et al., 2021;Jibeen, 2011). Based on the available literature, a few parallels can be drawn regarding Pakistani international students.

Demographic variables
These variables are the most commonly Documented Demographic variables associated with psychological adjustment.
The literature indicates that the adjustment process is easy for those who live for a long time in the host country (Ward et al., 1992;Wilton & Constantine, 2003). Such students acquired better skills in the English language, which enabled them to establish a social network Moreover, they did not have difficulties in maintaining and establishing a friendly attitude towards host nationals (Yusoff & Chelliah, 2010) and experienced fewer psychological problems (Xiao et al., 2019). However, Kim (1999) inferred that only with the help of will and interest, students could establish educational and social relations, making their adjustment easier. Therefore, no relationship exists between the length of stay and adjustment. However, if students take a personal interest in developing relations with the host country's students, their adjustment can become easier, which can prevent isolation and psychological problems (Mahmood et al., 2018). How the length of stay affects Pakistani international students is a question that has not yet been explored in previous literature.
Age has been considered to be an essential predictor of adjustment among international students (Bektaş et al., 2009;Duru & Poyrazli, 2007). Several studies have been conducted on the role of age in the adjustment process (Rivas et al., 2019;Sumer et al., 2009). In a study corroborating age, academic level and adjustment, it has been revealed that young students demonstrate an interest in establishing friendships with international students and creating daily social relations with them (Hale et al., 2020; C. T. Williams & Johnson, 2011). On the other hand, though older students get settled in the academic environment and everyday matters; however, setting up cooperative behavior and social relations with their host nationals remains challenging (Briscoe et al., 2022). Berry et al. (1987) established that gender plays an essential role in the adjustment process. The available literature has also revealed gender differences during the adjustment process among the student population studying abroad (Adasi et al., 2020;Khawaja & Stallman, 2016). It has been reported that female international students are likely to perceive more stress than male students (Ra, 2016;Shan et al., 2020). Moreover, belongingness to a particular culture can also have an impact on the perception of adjustment issues during the adjustment process. In the adjustment of female international students, particularly coming from Asian and Islamic countries, females may face greater challenges in Western universities. In Pakistan, gender ideology is largely borrowed from a conservative interpretation of Islam, which is largely patriarchal (Mumtaz et al., 2013). In some parts of the urban population, there is a perception of gender equality, but still, cultural roots and social norms are dominating. In the cultural interpretation, a woman is seen as a potential mother and homemaker, along with having all the traits for becoming a good subordinate in the role of wife (Kalsoom, 2022;Khalid, 2011). The education of women is seen as preparation for the aforesaid role. This gender role is endorsed by the family structure, in which gender roles are predefined by cultural, social and economic values with an unshaken belief that these roles are natural and authentic. Pakistani international female students who venture to study abroad are likely to share the baggage of culture and tradition to varying degrees.
Cultural distance refers to the perceived disparity between the home and the host countries. Researchers have shown a relationship between cultural distance and psychosocial adjustment (English et al., 2021;Ward et al., 1991). International students, who perceive more differences between the home and host cultures, have reported problems related to psychosocial adjustment. This may be because of greater life modifications and the practice of coping tactics on their part to adjust to the local environment. Failure to adopt the changes and adjust to the local norms can hamper the normal functioning of an individual. Consequently, international students may suffer from depression and stress (Pérez-Rojas & Gelso, 2020). Cultural distance is an important factor in the case of Pakistani international students. Pakistani international culture is collectivistic, patriarchal and religious and gives rise to personalities and psychological dispositions that perceive achievement, bonding and identity differently in comparison to the West. Moreover, the education culture is fundamentally different; there is a lack of emphasis on research and there is a limited teacher-student interaction. A study in this context revealed that students who perceived greater cultural distance between their heritage culture and host culture were at greater risk to experience psychological problems. They experienced greater mood disturbances (Gore, 2020). This implies that students who perceive more variances in the new environment required greater effort to change themselves and therefore, experience more stress and depression (Khatiwada, 2012;Кальехас, 2021). This might give rise to cultural shock. However, further research is needed and it would certainly be important to understand how cultural distance plays a role in the case of other Pakistani international students as cultural disparities become more obvious.
Personality is also considered to be the primary predictor of adjustment. According to research, the student who owns an adaptive personality can find a solution to daily life problems and educational issues (Mesidor & Sly, 2016;Wilson, 2012). The big five personality traits, namely agreeableness, neuroticism, consciousness, openness, and extroversion have been explored in the current literature. The literature revealed that neuroticism and acculturative stress have a strong correlation. The people who score high on the neuroticism scale also yield a similar trend in their acculturative stress levels. Similarly, students with extrovert traits feel comfortable making friends with host nationals, which reduces their acculturative stress. Literature informs that some aspects of personality have a deep connection with cross-cultural adjustment (Lee & Ciftci, 2014;Tomich et al., 2003;Wang et al., 2021). In the case of Asian students, the findings are more relevant. According to the results of a study conducted on Asian students, there is a significant connection between social support, personality traits, and adjustment (Han et al., 2017). Students with extrovert personality types found adjustment with host nationals to be an easier process. Whereas, individuals with a low level of neuroticism and a high level of extroversion quickly adopt the new environment (Foroudi et al., 2020). Moreover, those who get a high score on openness streamline various activities and adopt new values quickly in the host country, which reduces their acculturative stress and makes adjustments easy. For this reason, openness is a feature that can be associated positively with cross-cultural adjustment. The relationship between personality and psychosocial adjustment of Pakistani students is an area that needs to be investigated. To date, there has been no study on the relationship between personality and psychological adjustment of Pakistani students studying abroad.
It has been well-established in the literature that the presence of social support dramatically reduces the severity of adjustment problems (Becker et al., 2018). Social support refers to a network consisting of friends, co-nationals, parents, and siblings that plays a decisive role in solving the educational, emotional and social issues of international students (Shafaei & Razak, 2016). In addition to this, the university's support staff is also considered an essential source of support among international students (Sandoval et al., 2021;Zhou, 2010). Those students, who do not get support from their family and friends, may feel alone in the new place, which can increase their difficulties, and contribute to acculturative stress (Pho & Schartner, 2021). The available literature has revealed that international students who were fulfilled with their social support systems experienced low acculturative stress as compared to those who lacked a support network (Rathakrishnan et al., 2021;Yeh & Inose, 2003). Similarly, students with more elevated amounts of social support experienced low acculturative stress (Poyrazli et al., 2004;Szabó et al., 2020). Pakistani students belong to a collectivistic culture (Brinkman Bashir et al., 2021). Students growing up in collectivistic cultures develop strong ties with their family members, with a value system in which elders are consulted and respected. Due to these strong family ties, students spend a large portion of their time with family members and learn a lot from them. The family acts as an essential support system, which exists as a source of learning for the students and becomes helpful in difficult circumstances. It would be interesting to see how social support plays a role in the case of Pakistani international students.

Research questions
The research questions that will be inquired about include: (a) What sociodemographic variables (age, gender, perceived cultural distance) determine the experience of psychological adjustment (measured by the Acculturative Stress Scale)?
(b) What role does personality traits (measured by the Neo Big 5) play in determining the psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students?
(c) Does social support (friends, family, and significant others) predict the psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students?

Ethical considerations
The present study was assessed and agreed to by the Board of Advanced Studies (BASR) of the researchers' parent university. Following ethical considerations were considered.

Beneficence
The current study aimed to highlight the predictors of psychosocial adjustment among Pakistani international students. Since there is a dearth of literature in this regard, the identification of factors leading to adjustment could benefit future students with informed knowledge about factors that may promote their adjustment. Such beneficence to participate in the study was described to all participants through an email, which inspired a good many to contribute to the current research through their valuable participation.

Non-Maleficence
There were no foreseeable risks involved in the students' participation in this study. All students were asked to share their acculturation experiences, level of social support, sense of self-esteem and acculturation orientations on different rating scales. The only issue was related to motivating students to spare time out of their tight schedules to share their responses. For time management, the questionnaire and a relevant link were designed in such a way that they could share their responses in multiple settings, while they were also saved automatically.

Informed consent
The researcher obtained informed consent and shared all the information relevant to the objectives, risks and benefits of participating in the research and possible utilization of the research's results through an email. Many of the students asked for additional details of the research project, which were provided to them. Due to the dearth of knowledge and data collection constraints associated with this area, all participants were strongly encouraged to participate. However, they were free to withdraw at any point in the research. They were sent timely reminders to participate in the research until some of them withdrew due to their hectic schedules.

Confidentiality
The confidentiality of the participants was assured and maintained by following APA VI, which includes the maintenance of confidentiality. During discussions, presentations, or journal articles (related to the study), their identity and other personal details were not released.

Sample and procedure
The present study employed purposive sampling to collect the data. Before the data collection process, the research was presented in front of the Board of the University. After the approval of the Board, Pakistani International students enrolled in various universities abroad were approached. About 100+ students, based for a variety of reasons, apologized for not becoming a part of this study. Amongst these reasons, privacy issues, timing issues, and other personal reasons were mentioned. The participation link was shared with only those students, who showed a willingness to participate in the study and gave informed consent. It was a challenging task to convince students to participate in the study. These students came up with various questions about the study. They were more concerned with their privacy issues. Most of them were reluctant and shared that participation in the study might result in the cancellation of their scholarship. However, their queries were satisfied and fears were addressed on an individual basis. The students were offered appreciation certificates as compensation for their time participating in the study.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria
For the current study, the following inclusion criteria were employed for the selection of Pakistani international scholars.
Inclusion Criteria. The following inclusion criteria were applied for the selection of the participants.
• Recipients of scholarships and their stay in the host country should not exceed five years.
• They earned a scholarship from the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HECP).
• They secured admission into various foreign universities all across the world, mainly to complete Master's and Ph.D. degrees.

Exclusion criteria
The only exclusion criteria were as follows: • Any immigrants and dual nationality holder Pakistani students were excluded from the study.

Data collection
An online link was generated for data collection. Under this, a link was provided to the students on which they were able to record their responses to the relevant questionnaires that explored the predictors of adjustment. To facilitate the students to the utmost degree, the data collection process was designed in such a way that students participating in this study could complete the questionnaires at their convenience. However, students could not participate in this survey more than once. Furthermore, students could edit their responses before submission. This link was kept open for students for about six months.

Measures
Responses were collected under different questionnaires based on the objectives of this study and the research literature. These included a demographic form, the Acculturative Stress Scale (Bashir & Khalid, 2020), Neo big five personality inventory, (John & Srivastava, 1999), and the Perceived Scale for Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988).

Demographic form
The demographic form, along with other questionnaires were emailed to the participants. In the demographic form, they were asked about their current country of residence, educational year, length of stay in the guest country, the field of specialization, age, marital status, and perception of cultural differences between the host and home countries rated on a 7 point Likert type scale. The particular details of the demographic form are as follows:

Age
It was measured as a continuous variable.

Length of stay
It refers to the number of years resided in the host country. It was measured as a continuous variable.

Cultural distance
It refers to the perceived disparity between the home and the host countries. To measure perceived cultural distance, the students were asked 2 questions about their perception of the cultural values of the home and the host countries. Among these 2 questions, question 1 measured the perception of the culture of the home country, and question 2 measured the perception of the culture of the host country. The students were asked the extent to which they perceived the cultural values, beliefs, or behaviors of their country of origin (home country) and current resident country. Their responses were rated on a 7-point Likert scale, i.e. individualistic, mostly individualistic, somewhat individualistic, in-between, somewhat collectivist, mostly collectivist, collectivist. An "individualistic culture" refers to the values that promote personal freedom and emphasize an individualistic approach in decision-making and the relative benefits of the individualistic approach. A "collectivistic culture" refers to values that regard family sources and give importance to their opinions rather than individuality. The level of disparity in students' responses to the cultural values of the home and host countries was named the "level of perceived cultural distance". Those who chose similar responses, i.e individualistic in question 1 and similarly individualistic in question 2, were considered as perceiving "no difference". Other than similar options in both questions, the difference in the selection of options was regarded as a perceived difference. Furthermore, the perceived difference was coded as No and Yes, which was further coded as 0 indicating no difference and 1 indicating a perceived difference respectively. The researcher manually coded all the differences based on the responses given by the participants.

Acculturative stress scale
The Acculturative Stress Scale was used to measure the Psychological adjustment of Pakistani students in the current study (Bashir & Khalid, 2020). It is the first culturally competent acculturative stress scale constructed and validated for Muslim Pakistani students (Bashir & Khalid, 2020). The scale consists of 6 subscales, including academic stressors, living and financial stressors, cultural and religious stressors, language stressors, environmental stressors, and discrimination stressors. The scale provided satisfactory evidence regarding the good criterion-related validity and correlated in the predictable direction (negatively with satisfaction with life and positively with depression scale; Bashir & Khalid, 2020).

Multidimensional perceived social support scale (MDPSS)
The Multidimensional Social Support Scale was established by Zimet et al. (1988). This scale measures the support of three different sources, i.e family, friends, and significant others. There are 12 items in the Multidimensional Social Support Scale (MDSSS), out of which, four items measure the support of all three sources. The responses on the scale can be obtained on a sevenpoint Likert-type scale. According to Chow and Ho (1997), the internal consistency of this scale with the Asian population has been approximately .90 (Chow & Ho, 1997;Jibeen, 2011). The scale had been validated and widely used in the Pakistani population (Batool & Zubair, 2018;Rizwan & Aftab, 2009). The Cronbach's alpha of this scale for the current study was α = .85. Cronbach's alphas of its subscales were .80 and greater, which is a very good level of Cronbach alpha (Ursachi et al., 2015).These include support from family = .83, Support from friends = .83, and support from significant others = .86.

Neo personality inventory
The Neo Big 5 contains 44 items and this scale was introduced by John and Srivastava (1999). This list measures five aspects of humanity. The purpose of making this checklist was to make a standardized, effective and malleable tool to test five human aspects, i.e. extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, consciousness, and neuroticism (John & Srivastava, 1999). The Neo Big 5 measures different aspects of one's personality in the form of a checklist which consists of small sentences. The individual is said to choose those aspects that he or she finds most similar to their personality and temperament. The Neo Big 5 responses are recorded on a 5-point Likert type scale, which ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree (John & Srivastava, 1999). 6 items measure each of the five basic aspects of the Neo Big 5. The reliability of this scale is between .66 -.85 (John & Srivastava, 1999). As a rule of thumb, Cronbach alpha of 0.6-0.7 indicates an acceptable level of reliability (Ursachi et al., 2015). The Cronbach's alpha for the subscales includes .66, .66, .66, .81, and .85 respectively for extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience, whereas the overall Cronbach's alpha for the current study was .71.This scale is frequently used among Pakistani students e.g. (Bushra & Suneel, 2021;Nadeem et al., 2018)

Data analysis
Regression analysis was carried out to explore the determinants of acculturative stress among Pakistani international students. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.00 was utilized for data analysis. For the statistical analysis, an alpha level of .05 was used. Table 1 indicated that the sample consisted of Pakistani students of which male students were greater in number (n = 260) than female students (n = 49). The age ranges of the participants were 21-45 years (M = 30.12, SD = 3.87). These students were enrolled in Masters (n = 147) and Ph.D. degree programs (n = 162) in various fields of study, i.e. Medicine/Health (n = 22), Engineering (n = 198), Arts (n = 5), Business and Management (n = 21), Social Sciences (n = 16), Biological Sciences (n = 16), and other (n = 31).

Descriptives
Their duration of stay in the host country was categorized into less than 1 year to approximately 5 years (M = 3.2, S.D = 1.3). The students with less than 3 months and more than 5 years were excluded.

Correlation analysis
The correlation matrix (Table 2) revealed the relationship between the predictor variables consisting of the demographic variables (i.e. gender, age, the perceived disparity between the home and host countries, personality traits, and, social support) and outcome variables (psychological adjustment). The matrix showed that nearly all study variables had significant, but modest size correlations in the expected direction.
Amongst the demographic variables, age (r = .18, p < .01) and perceived cultural distance (r = .19, p < .01) were significantly and positively correlated with acculturative stress. The results further revealed that Gender did not correlate with Acculturative stress (r = .07, p = ns). However, it does correlate with cultural and religious stressors (r = .013, p < .01).
The values for the coefficient of correlation greater than 0.90 lead to the multicollinearity issue (Javaid et al., 2020(Javaid et al., , 2019.

Regression analysis
The regression analysis (Table 3) indicated that after controlling variables in model 1, i.e. gender, age, length of stay, and cultural distance, the findings revealed that in Model 1 R 2 = .075, which meant that 7.5 % of the variation in model 1 was explained by the variation in the outcome variable. The model produced significant results, with F (4, 308) = 6.138, p < .001.
In Model 2, personality variables, i.e. agreeableness, Conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness were added. It was found that R 2 = .150, which meant that 15 % of the variation in model 2 was explained by the variation in the outcome variable. Model 2 was significant, with F (4, 308) = 5.866, p < .001. In model 3, social support was entered. In this model, R 2 = .225, which implied that 22.5% of the variation in model 3 was described by the variation in the outcome variable. Model 3 was significant and improved by 7.5% than model 2 and proved significant, with F (4, 308) = 7.169, p < .001.

Discussion
The study was carried out to explore the predictors of psychological adjustment amongst Pakistani international students. The study also explored the significance of gender differences in psychological adjustment, grounded on Berry et al. (1987) theoretical framework. This quantitative inquiry exposed positive predictors of acculturative stress including sociodemographic variables (e.g., Perceived cultural distance and age) and personality traits (e.g., neuroticism). Likewise, support from family and friends, and personality traits (e.g., extraversion and consciousness) turned out to be negative predictors of Acculturative stress. The current study highlights some suggestions and implications to reduce the experience of acculturative stress and improve the psychological adjustment of Pakistani scholars, which are also presented along with the results.
The participants of older age were predicted to be more prone to acculturative stress than younger students. In the current sample, younger students scored lower on the acculturative stress scale than the older students. Age, thus, emerged as a strong predictor of psychological adjustment. One of the main reasons is that the attitudes and beliefs of students become stronger with aging and therefore, adaptation to new places becomes difficult (Brunsting et al., 2018;Sümer et al., 2008;Yusoff & Chelliah, 2010).
It was further revealed that a greater perceived distinction between the home and host countries amounted to more acculturative stress. The cultural disparity was found to be positively related to acculturative stress and its sub-domains, namely academic and environmental stress. The results of the current study confirmed earlier findings that greater perceived cultural distance between the home and host cultures in terms of religion, language, traditions, clothing, food, environment and style of a meeting can increase acculturative stress in international students (Khawaja & Dempsey, 2008;Taušová et al., 2019). The disparity between individualistic culture and a collectivistic culture can give rise to acculturative stress and this has been well established in the current literature. The results further revealed that cultural disparity proved to be a positive predictor of academic stress. This reconfirmed the conclusions drawn by the available literature, which has considered the perceived cultural distance to be an important predictor of educational adjustment (Alsahafi & Shin, 2016;Cao et al., 2018;. It has been found that universities in Western countries especially focus on students' active participation, whereas the available literature exposed that in Pakistan, the examination assessment criteria focus only on the amount of information that a student can retain during lectures (Khan et al., 2017). Certainly, such assessment criteria will only breed habits of selective study and not holistic learning. As a result, skills, such as reasoning and analysis, could not be developed (Ali et al., 2009). Moreover, selective study and lack of critical skills also give rise to limited teacher-student interaction and promote passive learning attitudes in students (A. Bashir et al., 2019;Inamullah et al., 2008). Most teachers ensure that a student should only follow what is written in the textbooks (Ali et al., 2009), which limits the possibility of creative inputs in knowledge development. Students who come from public sector institutions lack basic competencies, such as proficiency in the English language, which is considered the primary medium of instruction in Pakistani universities. Universities do not focus on developing academic writing skills, which become a handicap for students when they venture abroad for higher studies (Ayyoub et al., 2019). These factors contribute to the academic stress of students and hamper their sociocultural adjustment. The results of the current study showed no significant gender differences in the psychological adjustment of Pakistani international students. However, cultural and religious stressors in the Muslim male and female scholars significantly differed. Muslim female scholars perceived cultural and religious stressors higher than male scholars, which reconfirms findings in the existing literature (Burkholder, 2014;McDermott-Levy, 2011). The main reason for this difference is that, unlike male Muslim scholars, female Muslim scholars express their Muslim identity through a certain dress code, which becomes a cause of discrimination (Gardner et al., 2014) Considering the role of personality in psychological adjustment, neuroticism positively correlated with acculturative stress, which is in line with other studies (Chen et al., 2022;Costa & McCrae, 1992;John et al., 2008;Ward et al., 2004). In addition, neuroticism positively correlated with the subdomains of acculturative stress, including environmental stress, academic stress, and discrimination, which reconfirmed earlier findings (Farsides & Woodfield, 2003;Noftle & Robins, 2007;Yusoff et al., 2021). The positive correlation of neuroticism with academic stress is because neuroticism increases sensitivity, which leads to anxiety and stress. This hampers the ability of a student to learn new academic skills, which require focus and patience. The current study also revealed that conscientiousness is negatively correlated with academic stress. These findings also confirm the results of earlier studies (Bob et al., 2014;John et al., 2008). Students with higher scores in conscientiousness experience less academic stress. They also had, as the literature shows, a greater focus on planning, organizing, and prioritizing tasks (Bob et al., 2014). According to Finch et al. (1999), people with higher conscientiousness can handle the negative effects of an event (i.e. acculturative stress). Empirical research reveals that higher conscientiousness is related to academic achievement and less delinquency (Finch et al., 1999;Icekson et al., 2020).
Social support proved to be a negative predictor of psychological adjustment. The results of the study are also consistent with the literature, which states that family, host nationals and international students play an important role in the psychological adjustment of guest students (Searle et al., 1990;Ward et al., 1993a). The findings of the present study are in line with the literature and especially with the research conducted on Pakistani students, in which social support contributed to the well-being of students (Batool & Zubair, 2018;Jibeen, 2016;Nosheen et al., 2014). Moreover, students belonging to a collectivistic culture are also assumed to develop restricted sharing to spare their loved ones from stress. They hesitate to share their problems with their friends, parents, or support networks and may use different coping strategies to deal with challenges on their own. Under "facing the public image", they feel that sharing worries with others, may reduce their dignity. This trend is more obvious in students from the Chinese culture (Cao et al., 2018;Wang & Greenwood, 2015). It was not found to be significant in the case of Pakistani international students.

Practical implications, conclusion, and future research
Although the sample of this study has been diverse and students from universities in many countries participated in it, some recommendations can be given in light of the results and may prove to be beneficial for higher education professionals, institutions, policymakers and students wanting to study abroad. Therefore, the following stakeholders are important in this regard: (1) host universities and teachers, (2) parent Universities, (3) students

For host universities
Although universities may not be able to find the perfect solution to the problems faced by incoming students, they may adopt some traditional and non-traditional methods that can facilitate the transition and adjustment of incoming students. There are specific suggestions that can be given based on the results of the current study: (1) Students should be provided with detailed and comprehensive information about the host country before they venture out for their studies. The information should include expected expenditure, accommodation and health facilities and most importantly, it should portray a real picture of the general cultural life of the university, along with academic requisites (Preston & Wang, 2017).
(2) Cultural and religious backgrounds should be considered while facilitating the students, particularly in social interactions and occasional receptions, administrative bodies should encourage such arrangements that are in line with the needs and traditions of all students (Mukminin et al., 2013).
(3) Emotional support and educational guidance received from university professors are of critical importance to guest students. In this regard, university professors must be more sensitive to the fact that under scholarship, students have to complete their degrees within a specified time (Dipeolu et al., 2007). It is important to guide the guest students in the best ways based on extensive experience.

For parent universities
The second stakeholder includes the institutions that send students to study abroad, particularly those that have signed MOUs with foreign universities. These institutions need to generate awareness amongst students concerning the prospective challenges they may face while studying abroad. Parent universities need to upgrade their system of education to better prepare students for the education systems in foreign universities. A decrease in this disparity will certainly ensure better academic performance . In addition to changes in the education system, teachers also need to be aware of the prospective challenges and may seek relevant training and exposure. This will also increase the performance of students and educational institutes and improve the educational system in the long run.

For students
The role of students is most important in the adjustment process. Students pursuing foreign education should adopt a more realistic approach. The characteristics of the educational system and required abilities on the individual's part should be very thoroughly evaluated. Students must develop a broad sense of challenges that they may confront during their course of study and enable themselves to better deal with them (A. Bashir et al., 2019). Moreover, students must show openness in building relationships with their host nationals, so that they can learn more from them.
As the study's findings suggest that students' personality plays an important role in the adjustment process, students should be trained to adapt to new challenges, such as responding to educational challenges, being persistent, adopting integration and assimilation instead of marginalization and separation attitudes, etc. Moreover, there is a need to create awareness amongst students that in addition to social support, available support from staff members, study advisors, family and friends, and campus counselors can also be availed.

Contribution of the study to the existing literature
The results of the current study will possibly contribute to the available literature that explains the adjustment experience of Pakistani students in the host society. The results could be valuable in theorizing and measuring the adjustment challenges encountered by Pakistani students, particularly from the psychological perspective. Likewise, the cultural perspective will help to identify the particular stressors, hampering the psychological well-being of Pakistani students. It is also expected that the present study would help higher education institutions, as well as policymakers, to take into account the factors that may hinder the adjustment of Pakistani international students in universities abroad and will help them to boost the factors that support and facilitate the adjustment process of these students.

Limitations and future directives
There are some limitations to this study that can be avoided in future inquiries. First, the data of this cross-sectional study was collected through online software. Although this limitation was managed through frequent interaction with participants to ensure their true responses and to avoid any ambiguity. However, a replication study is recommended to have a more clear picture of the issue under research. Second, the data consisted of HEC scholars only and does not include students who ventured abroad on self-finance. The experience of such students should also be taken into account for better generalizations. Third, some of the alpha values of the measures used in the study were relatively low and satisfactory only, future studies should consider taking a larger sample to meet this limitation. Hence, the results should be carefully interpreted based on these factors and generalizations should be avoided. All these limitations need to be addressed in forthcoming studies.