Investigating resilience of international students at a public university in Southern Taiwan and its implications for the New Southbound Policy

While the initiative behind Taiwan's New Southbound Policy is largely driven by economic, political and academic priorities, this study promotes strengthening the psychological dimension of the policy to support its increasing international student population. The current study examines how optimism and emotional regulation predicts resilient behavior among a sample of international students in Taiwan. Empirical results from regression analysis showed that there is a positive association between optimism and resilience, while mediation analyses reported that optimism is also a partial mediator between emotion regulation and resilience, which nuances their relationship. The findings bear significant policy implications to Taiwan's educational development initiative.