Does going to university in a different country affect your mental health? A Japanese international university surveyed its students in 2018 and published a study the following year that was approved by several ethical and regulatory boards.
The study found that international students have a higher risk of mental health difficulties than the general population, and that social connectedness (belonging to a social group) and acculturative stress (stress associated with joining a new culture) are predictive of depression.
Explore the students data using PostgreSQL to find out if you would come to a similar conclusion for international students and see if the length of stay is a contributing factor.
Here is a data description of the columns you may find helpful.
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
inter_dom | Types of students (international or domestic) |
japanese_cate | Japanese language proficiency |
english_cate | English language proficiency |
academic | Current academic level (undergraduate or graduate) |
age | Current age of student |
stay | Current length of stay in years |
todep | Total score of depression (PHQ-9 test) |
tosc | Total score of social connectedness (SCS test) |
toas | Total score of acculturative stress (ASISS test) |
import pandas as pd
# Read the CSV file
students = pd.read_csv('students.csv')
# Display the data
print(students)-- Find the average scores by length of stay for international students, and view them in descending order
SELECT stay,
ROUND(AVG(todep), 2) AS average_phq,
ROUND(AVG(tosc), 2) AS average_scs,
ROUND(AVG(toas), 2) AS average_as
FROM students
WHERE inter_dom = 'Inter'
GROUP BY stay
ORDER BY stay DESC;1 hidden cell
Insight
To gain insights from the data, we can analyze the relationship between the students' length of stay and their scores on various tests. We can also compare the scores of international and domestic students to see if there are any differences.
Additionally, we can explore the relationship between the students' language proficiency (Japanese and English) and their scores on the tests.
By analyzing these relationships, we can better understand the factors that may influence the students' mental health and social connectedness.