Sustaining Resilience Through Local Connectedness Among Sojourn Students

Resilience is desirable for promotion as a resource for international students to sustain adjustment and withstand stress. A yet uncertain way for the promotion is the student’s connectedness with host or local people. To ascertain the benefit of local connectedness, this study surveyed 215 sojourn students originating from Mainland China who studied in Hong Kong. Results show that local connectedness engendered a significant positive effect on resilience and a significant negative effect on depressed mood. They echo theory and research concerning the merit of bridging social capital. This notion calls for efforts to associate sojourn students with locals with similar characteristics and advance their mutual help. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013