Aditya Shinde is an international student who started at ASU in 2023. He said during his freshman year, he experienced homesickness while adjusting to a new culture and trying to find a new community.
"It was overwhelming, at first," Shinde said. "Being a freshman coming here from India, getting to know the education system, coping with that was huge."
Shinde, now a senior studying construction management and president of the Coalition of International Students, said those coming to the United States for university education face a multitude of stressors. Worries can include adapting to new schooling methods, Visa regulations or academic pressure, he said.
A current study from the Social and Wellbeing Lab at ASU is focusing on the experience of freshman international students to investigate how relaxation techniques impact people with varying personality traits.
Jinghui (Elaine) Zhang, the lab director and a former international student herself, said the lab wanted to work with international students because of the higher stress they tend to experience. She added that for students attending college at a traditional age, it is often their first time on their own and leaving family behind.
"Imagine those challenges being amplified just because you're international: greater travel distance, greater culture shock, greater accountability of you being independent," Zhang said.
According to Zhang, international students have also especially experienced uncertainty surrounding their visas since last year, adding to their pressures.
READ MORE: Insight: I'm an International student in 2025, and I'm scared
Zhang added that many past stress management studies have focused on mindfulness, but few have considered the influence of individual traits on its effectiveness. The lab recruited international students, who self-reported perceived stress, to participate in the study.
The participants used accessible stress management techniques, such as 4-7-8 breathing and mindfulness meditation, over a two-week period. The lab then analyzed results, with special focus on the Big Five Personality Traits.
At the 2026 Society for Personality and Social Psychology convention, Zhang presented her initial findings. The study suggested that the mindfulness strategies implemented were effective and highlighted the importance of personalizing individual relaxation strategies.
Raieka Dhar, a sophomore studying forensic psychology and an international student from India, said she faces more intense pressures than her peers, including in academics, finances, her social life and more.
This semester, Dhar started a new mindfulness practice to cope with her stress. She attends a meditation club with her friend and has started taking 30 minutes each day to be mindful.
"I feel like since I started meditating this semester, my energy levels also went up because I feel like I was also calmer (and) more focused," Dhar said. "I really enjoyed that."
Following the two-week study, Zhang is continuing stress management research with a new experiment. The project will use a sleep-monitoring watch to collect biometric data, including pulse and other biological indicators, to measure participants' stress levels.
The study will continue to investigate the impact of mindfulness tools for individuals with varying personality traits. Reflecting the ideas shown in Zhang's research, Shinde emphasized the importance of an individualized approach to stress relief.
"Based off personalities, the way that they like to or the way that they prefer to relieve the stress is way different," Shinde said. "Some people are outgoing. Some people are, maybe, introverted."
Shinde said an impactful stress relief technique for him, and others, is getting involved in the student community and connecting with people who share similar experiences.
"I've seen international students come up with (an) immense amount of resilience," Shinde said. "They have (an) immense amount of ability to take uncertainty."
Edited by Kate Gore, Senna James, Sophia Braccio and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporters at dforres5@asu.edu.
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