(Why) does it matter where international students live? Associations between living arrangements, social interactions, and the academic and psychological adaptation of international students

Living arrangements constitute important aspects of international students’ proximal social environment that are related to their adaptation processes as they provide distinct opportunities for social interactions. In the present study, we investigated the living arrangements of international students and their direct and indirect (via host, co-national, and international interactions) associations with academic (i.e., study satisfaction) and psychological adaptation (i.e., subjective well-being). Parallel mediation models based on a large and heterogeneous sample of N = 3786 international students in Germany showed that, compared to living alone outside the university residence, living arrangements that included living in the same flat or building with peers (i.e., “dorm, single room/apartment”, “dorm, shared flat”, and “shared flat, rental”) were related to both higher study satisfaction and subjective well-being via increased interaction frequencies with other international students. Living in a university residence (“dorm, single room/apartment” and “dorm, shared flat”) was also associated with higher subjective well-being via more interactions with co-national students. By contrast, living with family members, a partner/spouse, and/or children was negatively related to both study satisfaction and subjective well-being via fewer host interactions. Implications for the theoretical understanding of the conditions of psychological and academic adaptation among international students as well as for the counselling of these students and the planning and implementation of university facilities and services are discussed.