Host-national friendship, social support, and cultural adaptation: Exploring experiences of international students in the U.S.

International students decide to study abroad to seek achievements in personal growth, intercultural development, education, and career attainment. Along with these fruitful benefits international students face a range of challenges such as language differences, cultural barriers, social disconnectedness, racial discrimination, and academic pressure. These obstacles may negatively impact their mental health, life satisfaction, and academic performances during study abroad. Social support is one of the most effective factors that helps international students overcome these struggles. However, social support, specifically peer support requires access to and the development of relationships with peers. As such, this study investigates the process that international students access and develop friendship with host students to receive social support. The study also examines the way that international students perceive provisions of assistance from their host peers. Finally, the roles of peer support in helping international students adapt to host culture are explored. This study reveals several practical implications, discusses limitations, and provides suggestions for future research.