An Examination of Affectivity, Depression, and Acculturative Stress in Asian International College Students Using an Online Written Disclosure Protocol

College is a time of emotional upheaval and adjustment. Asian international college students may benefit from an intervention such as an online written emotional disclosure protocol to help with mental health and emotional distress. This dissertation examines the affectivity, depressive symptoms, and acculturative stress of Asian international college students and begins to assess an online written emotional disclosure protocol as a potential intervention. Three MANOVA were run on the data, which suggested that Asian international college students age 26 and older experience a decrease in positive affect compared to the 22 - 25 year old age group; Indian international college students have higher positive affect than their peers; Asian international college students living in the US for 25 months or longer had negative affect than students living in the US 1 - 6 months; Asian international college students living in the US 25 months or longer had higher acculturative stress than those living in the US 7 - 24 months. LIWC2015 was utilized to examine the affective, social, and cognitive processes written about in the experimental and control prompt journals, and showed that the experimental journals had higher utilization of words that reflect these processes. The study should be replicated with a larger sample size for better accuracy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]