• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.341-355
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The consumption of dietary supplements has shown an increase among young people in their 20s. We aimed to compare the use of dietary supplements and related factors between Chinese international and Korean college students living in South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We conducted online surveys of 400 Chinese international students and 452 Korean college students from January to February 2021. We analyzed the factors related to the use of dietary supplements by these students using multi-group structural equation modeling and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Approximately 65% of the Chinese international students and 93% of the Korean college students consumed dietary supplements at least once in the year preceding the survey. The common types of dietary supplements consumed by both groups of students were vitamin and mineral supplements, Lactobacillus products, and red ginseng products. Structural equation modeling showed that perception of the consumption of dietary supplements by family and friends positively influenced attitude toward dietary supplements. This effect was higher for Korean college students than for Chinese international students (P < 0.01). Attitude toward dietary supplements positively influenced their use, and this effect was higher for Chinese international students than for Korean college students (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that the use of dietary supplements by Chinese international students was significantly associated with age, self-reported health status, interest in health, perception of and attitude toward dietary supplements, and length of residence in South Korea. Among Korean college students, it was associated with exercise frequency and attitude toward dietary supplements. CONCLUSION: This study showed significant differences in the use of dietary supplements and related factors between Chinese international and Korean college students. Therefore, nutrition education programs on dietary supplements need to have differentiated content for each group. Such differences also suggest that the industry should consider the relevant characteristics of college students while developing and marketing dietary supplements.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.72-82
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to review health and adjustment issues of Korean students in the context of international students' health in the United States. The number of international students studying in the United States has increased. In addition, more and more Koreans come to the United States for education. Korean students formed the fifth largest international group found on American campuses. As more and more international students study on American campuses, their health needs and problems became a concern to health professionals. Most health problems international students experience are stress related and psychosomatic. These students also have difficulties in using health care services. International students face barriers to obtaining health care because of differences in language and differences in cultural beliefs toward health. Korea manifests an eastern culture which is quite different from the western culture, so many Korean students studying in the United States experience difficulties in adjustment and using health care services. The study on the needs of Korean students in the U.S. reviewed in this research was a survey of 105 Korean students at the Pennsylvania State University, 1990. Korean students' health problems included stress, colds, fatigue, and headaches. Homesickness, financial problems, and academic problems were also important problems the Korean students faced. Korean students usually did not participate in any activities with Americans as much as with Koreans. Most Korean students did not participated in any health education workshops held on campus. This may be because the students had not participated previously in health education workshops conducted on campuses in Korea. Korean student's confidence with the English language appeared to be an important variable in using or not using the university health services. University health professionals in the United States need to develop better information system for international students so that they may better use the health services provided on campus. Also, university health professionals working on campuses in Korea need to put more attention on health of college students and provide on-campus health education workshops which meet the student's needs.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.687-694
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the subjective oral status perception and OHIP according to the oral health managementamong international and domestic university students. Methods: self-reported questionnaire was completed by 176 domestic and 175 international university students in Daegu and Gyeongbuk from August 25 to November 1, 2014. The informed consent was received after explanation of the purpose of the study by the researcher. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects, toothbrushing behavior, oral health management, subjective oral status perception. and oral health impact profile (OHIP). The subjective oral status perception and OHIP was measured by Likert 5 point scale. Results: The international students tended to have higher subjective oral status perception when they had longer stay with the roommate in Korea. The female international students tended to have higher OHIP than the male students. The domestic students with lower grades and roommates showed higher OHIP. The international students had a poorer practice of oral health management than domestic students. The overall mean of subjective oral status perception was 3.13 in domestic students, and 3.09 and 3.22 in international students. The overall mean of OHIP was 4.21 in domestic students and 4.25 and 4.16 in the international students, Conclusions: International students had a higher subjective oral status perception than domestic students, but their wrong oral health management lowered their quality of life. It is necessary to provide the oral health management for the international students continuously.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.106-113
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• 2024

This study is conducted to determine whether Chinese students currently attending Korean universities are satisfied with their university life and to identify the problems they are experiencing. A survey was conducted with the graduate students attending K University and 202 students participated in the study. According to the study, most students are very satisfied with Korean universities and would recommend them to their friends. Regardless of gender, degree program, or major, the most difficult aspect of school life is understanding and communicating in class due to language problems. Even students with high TOPIK scores experience difficulties in communication and comprehension during class. One of the most significant problems that Chinese students have is a lack of interaction with Korean students. They want to interact with Korean students through club and team activities at the university. They requested that the university provide international students with opportunities to participate in various programs, such as sports activities, to help overcome feelings of alienation and isolation. Based on the study results, suggestions to support Chinese students to adjust educational environments in Korea were presented.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.293-324
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to identify differences in the report assessment patterns of international undergraduate students and instructors. Based on two sample reports, the following differences were confirmed between international students and instructors' assessments of reports. First, instructors and students showed no differences in their assessments of the well-formatted report. However, the two groups exhibited differences in their assessments of the report that was not well formatted in that students evaluated the report more highly than instructors did. Second, instructors and students exhibited notable differences in their assessments of items such as citation, logic, and expression. This may have been because students lacked knowledge on citation methods and the use of grounds for arguments based on citation methods and topics. Third, students and instructors showed differences in their areas of focus when evaluating reports. Instructors mostly focused on the main topics of each report, whereas students focused on supporting details for the main topics. Based on these findings, instructors need to emphasize the following areas in educating international undergraduate students on report writing. First, they should stress proper source citation. They should provide frequent guidance on how to accurately cite sources. Second, they should help students to first think about the overall form and content of their reports. Instructors should emphasize that having a logical overall report structure and content that is relevant to the subject is more important in general than grammar or accuracy of vocabulary.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.31-63
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to compare the aspects of acculturation and the acculturative strategies of Chinese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Japanese international students in Korea and to explore the correlation between acculturative strategies and acculturation as well as between acculturative factors and acculturation. The analysis revealed (i) that all of the international students from four countries adapted well to Korean culture in order of contentment to the collegiate life, personal factors, Korean living culture, social factors, Korean classes. Further, (ii) frequently used acculturative strategies of Chinese, Mongolian students were in the order of separation, marginalization, and assimilation while the most often used acculturative ones of Vietnamese and Japanese students were in the order of marginalization, separation and assimilation. In addition, (ⅲ) the acculturation of international students from four countries showed a significant correlation with personal factors, Korean living culture, contentment to the collegiate life, and (iv) the acculturation of Chinese students showed a positive correlation with separation strategy. In contrast, there was a negative correlation between the marginalization strategy and the acculturation of Mongolian and Japanese students.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.523-542
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to figure out the procedure of learning Korean for international students. A research question was set up as follows: What is the procedure of leaning Korean for international students in Korean universities? To achieve the research purpose, this study implemented a method of semi-constructed interviews. Nineteen international students participated in the interview. The collected data for this study included transcripts from each interview. The transcripts of 60 minutes of interviews with all the participants was audio-taped recorded. This study investigated the research question based on the grounded theory. The analysis of open coding, axial-coding, and selective coding was used in the study. Results indicated that international students learned Korean in a daily basis, and then they adapted to academic Korean in their majored fields. Both personality and mother tongue influenced Korean language learning positively and negatively. International students' improvement of Korean was related in studying with Korean mass media such as TV soap dramas, talk shows, and songs. International students think that TOPIK(Test Of Proficiency In Korean) is not much related with their Korean language fluency. In conclusion, the researchers suggested to give more emphasis on academic training courses for Korean language and to improve the TOPIK in general academic Korean.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.27-45
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• 2022

Despite the increase in the number of international students residing in Korea, there is lack of research on their Everyday Information Seeking behaviors. This study investigated the information needs and information seeking behaviors of international students in Korea according to the settlement stages (before entry, initial settlement, and present) through Critical Incident Technology (CIT). International students in Korea reported their daily life-related information needs more frequently than their academic-related information needs. International students used multiple information sources for seeking information, such as websites, social media, and friends. Compared to websites, international students demonstrated higher satisfaction with interactive sources such as social media and friends. It was found that the language barrier is the biggest difficulty that international students experience during the information seeking process. Unfamiliarity with Korean society and culture were addressed as another difficulty. Based on the understanding of international students' information needs and seeking behaviors throughout the settlement stages, recommendations for helping international students search for information in their daily life were discussed.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.135-146
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• 2023

Psychological support is crucial in navigating one's academic and professional lives, especially for students living abroad and pursuing higher education. This study aims to explore the narratives of social support seeking in a group of Korean international graduate students in an urban university setting in the United States. Qualitative research method of narrative approach was used to examine how three Korean graduate students exchanged psychological support. Analysis of interviews, observations, and documents found that four types of social support (informational, instrumental, appraisal, and emotional) were being exchanged and that emotional support was accessible predominantly in individual meetings than in group gatherings. Additionally, the reasons for abstaining from initiating group gatherings are discussed in relation to the Korean culture where participants were mindful of not infringing on each other's time. These findings inform theory on socio psychological support seeking and its relation to cultural values and offer practical insights into psychological support in international students in higher education settings.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.658-666
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• 2020

In this paper it is considered that international students who are studying at Korean universities have difficulty in completing their studies while adjusting to Korean university life. The reason for this is that most international students enter university but they are lack of liberal arts knowledge such as Korean language skills and foundation studies necessary for their major studies. However, most universities focus on teaching Korean language as a liberal arts course for international students. Therefore It suggests that the most important and urgent required is for international students to improve their liberal arts knowledge as well as their Korean language skills. Furthermore, this paper argues order for international students who do not have enough liberal arts such as Korean language proficiency or basic science to study successfully, a systematic liberal arts curriculum and teaching methods for international students should be presented and applied in the field. Accordingly, this paper shows an example of the class operated by applying the knowledge-based Korean language teaching method to the cultural class, which is a dedicated subjects for international students, and proved its effectiveness.