International students often face stressful and depressive challenges that often affect their psychological well-being and cognitive functioning. This study investigates whether perceived impact of stressful life events (SLEs) and depression predicts cognitive flexibility (CF) among international students, in Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Standardised instruments such as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) for measuring SLEs, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) for assessing depressive symptoms, and the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI) for evaluating cognitive flexibility, are used for data collection and measuring. The sample comprised 42 participants with a mean age of 26.08 years (SD = 0.86), where 71.4% were female and 28.6% were male. Participants reported a mean depression score of 40.68 (SD = 8.10), an average of 29.71 stressful life events (SD = 6.98), and a mean Cognitive Flexibility Index (CFI) score of 88.94 (SD = 22.19). Correlation analyses revealed significant positive relationships between depression and both stressful life events and between stressful life events and CFI. Multiple regression analysis showed that stressful life events significantly predicted cognitive flexibility, while depression had a marginally significant effect. The interaction of stressful life events and depression on cognitive flexibility was also marginally significant. The study concludes that SLEs significantly impact CF among international students, however, depression and interaction (SLEs * Depress) only marginally predict CFI. Despite these findings, the study acknowledges several limitations, including the issue of potential multicollinearity and incomplete responses, suggesting the need for future research with larger, more diverse samples and longitudinal designs to explore the long-term effects and causal pathways.
Keywords: Forensic mental health, depression, cognitive flexibility, international students, United Kingdom, beck depression inventory