A Gender Study of Food Stress and Implications for International Students Acculturation

Ruining Jin, Tri Le, Thu-Trang Vuong, Thi-Phuong Nguyen, Giang Hoang, Minh-Hoang Nguyen () and Quan-Hoang Vuong
Additional contact information
Ruining Jin: Civil, Commercial and Economic Law School, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing 100088, China
Thu-Trang Vuong: A.I. for Social Data Lab (AISDL), Vuong & Associates, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam
Thi-Phuong Nguyen: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Giang Hoang: Monash Business School, Monash University, Victoria 3145, Australia
Minh-Hoang Nguyen: Centre for Interdisciplinary Social Research, Phenikaa University, Yen Nghia Ward, Ha Dong District, Hanoi 100803, Vietnam
Quan-Hoang Vuong: Centre for Interdisciplinary Social Research, Phenikaa University, Yen Nghia Ward, Ha Dong District, Hanoi 100803, Vietnam
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Quan-Hoang Vuong

World, 2023, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Acculturative stress can be a big problem for international students. Among the adaptation difficulties they may face, adjusting to new foods in a new environment is crucial to their well-being. Existing studies related to dietary acculturation point to gender differences, mostly on objective health impacts. Using the information processing approach, this study aims to examine the subjective perception of dietary acculturation difficulties, with a focus on the influence of social connectedness. Using the Bayesian inference approach with the Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique on a sample of 268 students from a Japanese international university, we found that female students are more likely to have perceived difficulties in the process of adjusting to new foods, but social connectedness lessens this effect. We also found no significant differences between domestic and international students regarding perceived difficulties of food adjustment in this study site, likely due to its highly multicultural environment. We suggest international universities provide better information about the food situations on campuses, especially for female students, and organize more cultural exchange events and food-related social activities to help students overcome barriers of food stress.

Keywords: dietary acculturation; gender difference; acculturative stress; international student; multicultural environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/4/1/6/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/4/1/6/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jworld:v:4:y:2023:i:1:p:6-94:d:1051031

Access Statistics for this article

World is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Hu

More articles in World from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().