Development of an Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students: preliminary findings.

Description of the development and testing of a new 36-item scale in Likert format, designed to assess the acculturative stress of international students, includes perceived discrimination, homesickness, fear, guilt, perceived hatred, and stress due to change (cultural shock), identified as major contributing factors. The psychometric properties of this instrument and implications for use by mental health practitioners are discussed.