Academic belonging and adjustment self-efficacy among international students: The mediating role of acculturative stress.

This study examined whether acculturative stress mediates the relationship between academic belonging and adjustment self-efficacy among international students within inclusive higher education. Using a cross-sectional quantitative design, data were collected from 236 international students enrolled in tourism-related programmes at higher education institutions in Türkiye. Confirmatory factor analysis showed poor fit for both the three-factor acculturative-stress model (χ2/df = 5.74, RMSEA = 0.142) and the four-factor adjustment self-efficacy model (χ2/df = 7.96, RMSEA = 0.172). The mediation model was tested using PROCESS Macro Model 4 with 5000 bootstrap samples. Academic belonging had a significant positive direct effect on adjustment self-efficacy, whereas acculturative stress had a significant negative effect. The indirect effect of academic belonging on adjustment self-efficacy through acculturative stress was not significant. Thus, academic belonging supported adjustment self-efficacy primarily through a direct pathway in this sample; however, the mediation findings should be interpreted cautiously because adequate measurement-model fit was not established. The cultural composition of the sample may be one plausible explanation for the non-significant indirect effect, but this interpretation was not tested directly. The study contributes by integrating academic belonging, acculturative stress, and adjustment self-efficacy in a single model among international students in tourism education in Türkiye.