Fear of COVID-19 and Psychological Adjustment Among International Students: Solution-Focused Thinking as a Moderator

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and solution-focused thinking and how it affects the psychological adjustment of international students amid the pandemic. A total of 167 international students participated in this cross-sectional survey using snowball sampling. Solution focused thinking was revealed to have negative and significant relationship with fear of COVID-19 and psychological adjustment problems. However, positive association was noted in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological adjustment problems The moderation analysis performed using the PROCESS Macro shown that solution focused thinking significantly moderated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological adjustment problems. The findings in this study have important implications to interventions intended to facilitate international students’ adjustment to consider solution-focused thinking-oriented interventions.