Chinese international students’ mental health–related experiences and education engagement in Australia

Chinese international students represent a significant social, cultural, and economic force in Australia. Research about Chinese international students has found, in comparison to other international student groups, different sources of psychological distress and poorer mental health outcomes. This chapter focuses on the cultural practices of ten Chinese international students in higher education in relation to their mental health–related experiences that impact their educational engagement in Australia. The participants differ in geographical locations in their country of origin (mainland China and Hong Kong), years of residency in Australia, study levels (undergraduate, postgraduate), and English language competence. In using Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and field, this chapter examines how the students’ cultural practices are (re)produced in their fields of influence and how these might have facilitated their habitus transformation, accumulating legitimate capital as a result for further investment and conversion. Based on the students’ habitus, capital investments, and cultural practices, the findings provided implications for promoting mental health–related experiences that are conducive to their educational engagement in Australia.