加拿大小留学生：在新国家很挣扎 易患精神疾病

16至19岁的小留学生 在一个新的国家很挣扎

一个面向亚裔社区的精神健康组织的一位官员表示，在小学和中学里读书的小留学生对精神健康问题如抑郁、压力、焦虑等“易感”。

“他们的风险更大，因为他们正处在一个培养过程中，培养自己与新的国家、新的人、(以及)新的压力打交道的能力，”Hong Fook精神健康协会的执行主任Bonnie Wong表示。

家园温哥华,vancouver.iask.ca

“有些因素会影响他们处理变化和挑战的能力，”Wong说，并表示外国学生可能因此开始使用“毒品、酒精、(或者)香烟”来释放压力。

Wong表示，尽管Hong Fook主要接待成年人，也准备好与那些偶尔进门的16至19岁的人打交道。 家园新闻,news.iask.ca

“比例相对还是低的，但是如果有从公立学校来的联络人员，我们还是准备好服务，”Wong说。“我不能评论他们到底经历了什么，但是的确有那种情况……他们在一个新的国家很挣扎，有些人是联络人员介绍给我们的。” 家 园 网

多伦多教育局：否认小留学生有毒品问题 i a s k . c a

当《大中报》联系多伦多教育局，向其了解压力之下的留学生使用毒品和酒精的情况，教育局负责国际学生的官员就为自己辩解，一位说她在多伦多教育局那些年从来没有接触过留学生的毒品问题。 家园温哥华,vancouver.iask.ca

“我在多伦多教育局看到相当多的留学生，而你问的第一件事情是与毒品有关的，”指导员Sandra Oolup说。“这对我们来说是个警讯。好像说，他打算写什么?” 加拿大 家 园 网

“是不是说这些事情就不存在呢?不是，”Oolup说。“我从来没见过一个学生有这种问题……可我不能保证从来没发生过类似问题……但对这类事情我不并是很清楚。”

外国学生最大的问题，她说，是想家。 家 园 网

正是说到这里，多伦多教育局联络主任Kelly Baker建议“我们换个话题”，因为时间不够了。

Polly Chao，多伦多教育局国际学生办公室的主任，后来通过电子邮件承认，有些外国学生中的确有焦虑和抑郁的个案，因为他们来到一个新国家，想适应，从而感到压力。 i a s k . c a

“是的，有几个学生经历过文化偏差和同化带来的挑战，但是学生们既然决定来了，就准备迎接这些挑战，这是他们的优势，”Chao说。 www. iask. ca

不过，Oolup并没有否认那可能是个问题。 家园新闻,news.iask.ca

笔者未能与安省私立学校委员会的代表没能联络上以询问他们的意见。

研究：国际学生的“文化休克”现象

家园新闻,news.iask.ca

很少有人报道12年级及更低年级的留学生所面临的挑战，但对大专院校的留学生来说就不是这样了。

在2004年的咨询进步国际期刊的一份研究中，心理学家Natalee Popadiuk写到，“文化休克”在国际学生中是普遍的。

“孤独、抑郁、思乡、感觉不一样、以及身份丢失所带来的困难，还有一种很深的缺失感、挫败感和不确定感，都是他们存在心理问题，”Popadiuk写到。 i Ask . ca

而且根据2005年的一份来自“上瘾及精神健康中心”的研究论文，在论及饮酒问题时，美国大学里的国际学生“因为文化差异而被视为比其他学生更具风险”。 本文 来 自 家 园 网

心理学硕士论文：留学生被从原居国家的“支持系统中带离”

在开始研究心理学之前，Popadiuk是卑诗省一位中学老师。在她的心理学硕士论文中，她论及了她亲历的高中留学生的一些问题。

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“交新朋友，试图调整去适应新文化，学校功课上取得优秀成绩的压力，抑郁以及孤单……在我与这些孩子打交道时都能感到，”Popadiuk写到。 家园新闻,news.iask.ca

在最近一次访谈中，Popadiuk说那些留学生被从原居国家的“支持系统中带离”，是造成精神健康不佳或者开始吸毒和饮酒的一个原因。 爱问搜索,m.i a s k.ca

“因为他们更年轻，他们就更脆弱，”Popadiuk说。“他们一直处于住在家里的状态，或者有时候一个人住但有成年人看着他们。” i Ask . ca

更年轻就更脆弱 学生总的来说容易弄到毒品和酒精

www. iask. ca

Hong Fook的Bonnie Wong说，还有个问题是学生总的来说容易弄到毒品和酒精。

家园新闻,news.iask.ca

“当他们结伴聚会……更容易弄到酒精和毒品这类东西，”Wong说。“而且我认为他们待的时间越长，他们接触得越多。”

根据上瘾及精神健康中心在2009年的“安省学生毒品使用和健康调查”，7年级到12年级的安省学生中，58%报告说在接受调查的前一年喝过酒。23%的学生报告说他们在前四个星期内起码“醉过”一次，21%说他们饮酒水平属于“危险”。 www. iask. ca

至于大麻——更常见的叫法是pot——有25%的学生说他们在一年前吸过大麻。大约18%报告使用过非医用处方药物，将近12%报告在接受调查的前一年内吸过烟。 iask.ca

这份报告是研究过去30年来学生中滥用物品的趋势的，报告只对公立学校和天主教学校的学生进行了调查。

遗留问题是，在小学和高中的那些更年轻的留学生是不是因为其面临的独特压力而更脆弱呢?

“我想我同意，特别是在我能想到的某些情况下，”Wong表示，不过他拒绝解释。 家园网多伦多,toronto.iask.ca

多伦多：1141名小留学生 433名来自中国 加拿大：34,401名

iask.ca

根据多伦多教育局的资料，目前他们的系统里有433名学生来自中国，32名来自香港。在2008和2009年学年，一共有1141名国际学生进入多伦多教育局的学校。那些人中，898人在中学，243人在小学。

国际学生进入中学一般要付一年1.3万元学费。1年级到8年级的孩子的家庭付1.15万，幼儿园小班和大班一年的费用是将近7000元。 家园温哥华,vancouver.iask.ca

根据公民及移民部，截止2008年12月1日，在加拿大12年级及以下的外国学生人数为34,401名。

英文版 家园温哥华,vancouver.iask.ca

Young visa students in elementary and secondary schools are “vulnerable” to mental health issues such as depression, stress and anxiety, says an official from a mental health organization serving the Asian community. i a s k . c a

“They are more prone to risk because they are developing their coping skills in dealing with a new country, new people (and) new pressures,” says Bonnie Wong, executive director of the Hong Fook Mental Health Association. u.i a s k.c a

“There are factors that would affect their ability to cope with change and challenges,” says Wong, saying also that foreign students could, as a result, become involved with “drugs, alcohol (or) smoking” as a way of dealing with stress. 家 园 新 闻

Wong says while Hong Fook deals mostly with adults, it is prepared to handle the 16- to 19-year-olds that occasionally come through its doors. 加 拿 大 家 园 网

“The percentage is relatively low, but we do have services when approached by liaison workers from the public schools,” says Wong. “I can not comment on what they are experiencing, but there are situations where…with their struggles in a new country, some of them are referred to us through the liaison worker.”

www.iask.ca

When contacted by Chinese News and asked about drug or alcohol use by stressed-out visa students, officials from the Toronto District School Board’s international student office went on the defensive, with one saying she has never had to council a visa student for drug issues during her time with the TDSB. www. iask. ca

“I see a very good visa student population at the TDSB, and the first thing you are asking is about something like drug use,” says guidance councillor Sandra Oolup. “This is a red flag for us. It’s like, what is he trying to write about?” 家园论坛,forum.iask.ca

Still, Oolup does not deny there could be an issue.

家 园 论 坛

“Does it mean that it doesn’t exist? No,” says Oolup. “I haven’t found a student with that issue…I can’t guarantee there hasn’t been an issue…but I don’t know that it’s been an issue.”

The biggest problem for foreign students, she says, is homesickness.

家园温哥华,vancouver.iask.ca

It was then that TDSB communications director Kelly Baker suggested “we move on from the question” because of time limitations. 家园论坛,forum.iask.ca

Polly Chao, director of the TDSB’s international student office, later acknowledged via email that there are cases of anxiety and depression with some foreign students due to the stress of being in a new country and trying to fit in. iask.ca

“Yes, a few students experience the challenges of acculturation and assimilation, but students have the advantage of making the decision to come and are prepared to accept these challenges,” says Chao.

A representative from Ontario’s private school board could not be reached for comment. 加 拿 大 家园网

Little has been written on the challenges faced by visa students in grades 12 and under, but this is not the case when it comes to foreign students in universities and colleges. 加拿大家园,www.iask.ca

In a 2004 study for the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, psychologist Natalee Popadiuk writes that “culture shock” is common among international students in post-secondary institutions. 家园温哥华,vancouver.iask.ca

“Difficulties with loneliness, anxiety, depression and homesickness, feeling different and a loss of identity, and a profound sense of loss, inferiority, and uncertainty are a few of the psychological problems,” writes Popadiuk.

家 园 新 闻

And according to a 2005 research paper from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, international students in U.S. colleges “have been recognized as higher-risk than other college students due to acculturation stress” when it comes to drinking alcohol. 加 拿 大 家 园 网

Before going into psychology, Popadiuk was a secondary-school teacher in British Columbia. As part of her Master of Psychology thesis, she wrote of the problems she witnessed among visa students in high school.

“Making new friends, trying to adjust to a new culture, pressure to excel in their schoolwork, depression and loneliness…kept surfacing in the interactions I had with these kids,” writes Popadiuk.

In a recent interview, Popadiuk said “being taken away from their support system” in their home country is a factor when it comes to developing poor mental health or becoming involved with drugs or alcohol. 家园网多伦多,toronto.iask.ca

“Because they are younger, they are more vulnerable,” said Popadiuk. “They are living in homestay situations or sometimes living alone with an adult checking in on them.”

家园论坛,forum.iask.ca

Hong Fook’s Bonnie Wong says it is also about the accessibility students in general have to drugs and alcohol. I A S K

“When they go partying…there is more access to things like alcohol and drugs,” says Wong. “And I think the longer they stay, they have more exposure.” 加拿大 家 园 网

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s 2009 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, 58 per cent of Ontario students from grades 7 to 12 reported drinking alcohol during the year before being surveyed. Twenty-three per cent reported being “drunk” at lease once during the four weeks before, and 21 per cent said they were drinking at “hazardous” levels. 加拿大家园,www.iask.ca

As for marijuana ? more commonly known as pot - 26 per cent said they smoked cannabis the year before. Around 18 per cent reported the non-medical use of prescription pills, and almost 12 per cent reported smoking cigarettes during the year before being surveyed. www. iask. ca

The report, which looks at substance-abuse trends among students over the last 30 years, surveyed only students in the public and Catholic school systems. 园友录,u.iask.ca

The question remains, are younger visa students in elementary and high schools even more vulnerable because of the unique stressors they face? 加拿大家园,www.iask.ca

“I think I would agree, especially for some situations that come across my mind,” says Wong, declining to elaborate.

加 拿 大 家 园 网

According to the TDSB, there are currently 433 students from China and 32 from Hong Kong in its system. In the 2008, 2009 school year, there were 1,141 international students attending TDSB schools. Of those, 898 were in secondary school and 243 were at the elementary level.

According to Citizenship and Immigration, there were 34,401 foreign students in grades 12 and under in Canada as of December 1, 2008. 爱问搜索,m.i a s k.ca