International Students’ Sense of School Belonging and Mental Health Through the Lens of Cross Cultural Adaptation: An Analysis Based on High School Stage Population (15-18 Year Old)

Abstract

As economic globalization intensifies and international education expands, an increasing number of international students are enrolling in high schools. During the critical period of adolescence and the process of adapting to cultural changes, their mental health status is increasingly attracting people's attention. Therefore, this article analyzes the relationship between high school international students' sense of belonging to school and their mental health based on cross-cultural adaptation theory. Research has found that cross-cultural adaptation constitutes a fundamental variable in students' school life, directly affecting the establishment of their sense of belonging to the school; The sense of belonging to school plays an important mediating and moderating role between cross-cultural adaptation and mental health; The mental health status is the comprehensive result of the interaction between cross-cultural adaptation and school belonging. Accordingly, this study puts forward targeted intervention strategies at four interrelated levels—school, teacher, peer, and family-societal—to offer both theoretical insight and practical direction for fostering the mental health development of international high school students.