Paying attention to international students in Italy: The role of acculturative stress in the affective evaluations of cross-cultural transition

This study examines the role of acculturative stress in the affective evaluations of cross-cultural transition in a multiethnic sample of foreign stu- dents (N = 144) coming to Italy for the purpose of tertiary education. Firstly, the study reports on the factorial structure of Acculturative Stress Scale of International Students (ASSIS), adapted specifically for the Italian educational setting. Second, we hypothesized and tested with path analysis a model in which acculturative stress factors determine actual and anticipated affective subjective well-being and mediate the impact of protective factors (e.g., duration of exposure in the host society, intergroup contact, and self-group expansion) on the affective experiences following acculturative stress. Overall findings support the view that acculturative stress as an extended line of adverse contingencies can simultaneously be expanded to beneficial outcomes