01 May Public letter about ‘Homesickness Among Inter

,

Safwan Alhawsawi

ENG 108

Dr. Nicholas Barlow

4/21/2022

Homesickness Among International Students

Homesickness is a major issue for international students. It is among the most frequently reported issues of international college learners in the United States. International learning involves, leaving family, and friends as a home culture in pursuit of an academic opportunity abroad (Wu, Garza, & Guzman, 2015). International students are interested in this issue due to their experience with homesickness. International students tend to experience homesickness at least once. They tend to miss people as well as places, establish new social networks as well as adjusting new cultural and environmental needs. It is thus not surprising to hear that about 50% of international learners report frequent feelings of home sicknesses (Oghenerhoro, 2020). Homesickness can as well be perceived as mini grief in which relocation and adjustment to college life may turn into major stressors when resources, as well as coping techniques, are not sufficient (Stroebe, 2015). Therefore, in this review, we will concentrate on the impact of homesickness among the international students.

Causes of Homesickness among international students

International students tend to have issues with feeling alone as well as in relationships. When the majority of the international learners come abroad, there are no families and no friends. They tend to be lonely and thus international students tend to do everything by themselves (Stroebe, 2015). Additionally, at times it is hard to contact families and friends due to time differences. Basically, they tend to be so lonely and thus they try making friends abroad. Some people have the ability to make friends in an easy way, however, some people do not have the ability to match other people. If international learners cannot make friends easily, they tend to be so uncomfortable (Oghenerhoro, 2020). International learners tend to be emotional or wish to go back to their nation. Therefore, international learners can become home as soon as they get into the new nation.

According to Gebregergis (2018), language is another main reason behind homesickness is language. International students are always required to study a second language, though they do not have the ability to speak well, and they cannot listen well. Therefore, international learners may experience challenges with language. For instance, when they wish to complain to someone, they may not be in the capacity to tell one why they want to say it (English, et al., 2017). These factors may result in homesickness. Culture shock is another aspect that may result in homesickness. International students live abroad and therefore there are various cultures. In addition, in college, there are many students that have various cultures. International learners tend to get culture shock on food, money, and other things. Majorly, food tends to be the main factor for homesickness. Though international learners are hungry, they cannot eat sufficient food due to the different foods in their countries. They tend to get uncomfortable, and they get sick. International students cannot get energy without eating. It is difficult to understand the various cultures of international learners when they come to the nation. In addition, local people do not really understand the different cultures (Thomas, 2020). Thus, at times, international learners are in trouble in different cultures.

According to Ferrara (2020), an individual’s geographic distance away from home is a risk factor. The further away an individual is from home, the high the likelihood of experiencing homesickness. The longer the physical distance from home and the less frequent physical contact a person has with the people and places that they miss, the higher the chances of experiencing homesickness. Therefore, the inability to contact home and attachment figures places learners at a high risk of suffering from homesickness. Mainly in higher education, the learners that were away from home were at a high risk of experiencing the feelings of home sicknesses.

Effects of Homesickness among the International Students

When a learner is homesick in college it tends to easily show. While other learners have the ability to come right out and claim what they are going through, others may not be so forthcoming. The knowledge of the symptoms of homesickness can maximize the chances of identifying it. The signs of homesickness can differ from one learner to the other. Some of the signs which can be easily identified by learners include anxiety, depression, feeling as though they do not fit in, reduced motivation, loneliness, sadness, irritability, desiring a connection with an individual, and a sense of grief as well as loss (Sun, Hagedorn, & Zhang, 2016).

Basically, being a homesick college student tends to be distressing, and it can inappropriately affect their lives. For instance, they may miss classes since they feel sad as well as depressed to attend or may struggle to remain focused thus leading to the tumbling grades. Avoiding social activities as well as isolating themselves are as well potential signs of homesickness (Kegel, 2009). Basically, homesickness impacts the academic performance of college students negatively. Excessive acculturative stress tends to lead to eating and sleeping issues, low energy as well as migraines. Additionally, there have been several studies that bring out the connection between homesickness and depression. Homesickness is highly related to depression scores. Some alarming impacts of homesickness-based depression among college learners have been documented including suicide.

Interventions

Assisting international learners to develop friendships in the host nation is among the mainstay of acculturation techniques for college students. Poyrazli and Devonish (2020), advocate for initiatives to enhance the quality of social networks rather than an improvement on the number of close friends. Thus, a counselor may assess the degree of social support that learners have and if support is limited as a result of personal features which may include shyness as well as language barriers and environmental aspects. The majority of the international learners tend to stay in groups of fellow nationals through major interactions with the host natation students tends to be predictive of better cultural adjustment. Thus, peer programs that connect internationals with host county peers may be an appropriate technique for minimizing homesickness. Basically, peer pairing programs that associate international learners with host nation students tend to be more effective in comparison to the formal counseling techniques.

According to Rathakrishan, et al (2021), It may be beneficial to develop acculturative approaches for different subgroups of overseas students. For example, while forbearance is a common coping strategy among African foreign students, it is critical to organize informal outreach seminars that emphasize the importance of receiving high-quality assistance when stress levels rise. In terms of cultural collectivist traditions, counselors can use counseling programs to tap into the existing social support of Asian and Latin American international students.

Learners should embrace as well as accept the new school. They should major in exploring the school as well as its surroundings. They should embrace new opportunities to assist them to feel better in addressing the issue of homesickness in school. They should focus on the reason why they came to the facility. This can be achieved by noting the reasons why they chose the new school as well as the reason why they came to study in the nation. They should as well major in staying active. Staying active by going for walks, hitting the gym as well as exploring the new campus are effective methods of feeling more energetic as well as positive. Learners should as well consider staying connected to home even when they are far away. This aids in making it easy to feel as though one is missing out back at home (Billedo, Kerkhof, & Finkenauer, 2020). One may consider staying connected through regular chats, staying connected with social media, and sharing one’s culture.

The number of learners choosing to attend a university far away from their home country tends to be increasing. Though studying abroad tends to be an exciting transition for international students’ cultural relocation is related to increased psychological distress. Due to the increased homesickness among the international learners and its connection with depression, it is important for the schools’ counseling centers to develop alternative, culturally based services for the students. Maybe the main researchers and counselors alike are the main gap between learners’ interpersonal expectations for learning in other nations as well as real experiences (Thurber, & Walton, 2012). Developing the detailed impact of social expectation in comparison to social reality may enhance the clarity of the main nature of homesickness among the international learners. Homesickness prevention initiatives provide them with social support for international college learners which may improve the emotional toll that is caused by homesickness (Thurber, & Walton, 2012).

Billedo, C. J., Kerkhof, P., & Finkenauer, C. (2020). More facebook, less homesick? Investigating the short-term and long-term reciprocal relations of interactions, homesickness, and adjustment among international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 75, 118-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2020.01.004

Ferrara T. (2020). Understanding Homesickness: A Review of the Literature. Journal for Leadership and Instruction. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1255848.pdf

Gebregergis, W. T. (2018). Major causes of acculturative stress and their relations with sociodemographic factors and depression among international students. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 6(10), 68-87. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2018.610007

Kegel, K. (2009). Homesickness in International College Students. Compelling Counseling Interventions, 67-76. https://www.counseling.org/resources/library/vistas/2009-V-Print/Article 7 Kegel.pdf

Oghenerhoro, A. A. (2020). Homesickness among International Students in Famagusta, North Cyprus (Master's thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU)-Doğu Akdeniz Üniversitesi (DAÜ)). http://i-rep.emu.edu.tr:8080/jspui/handle/11129/5034

Poyrazli, S., & Devonish, O. B. (2020). Cultural Value Orientation, Social Networking Site (SNS) Use, and Homesickness in International Students. International Social Science Review, 96(3), 2. https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr/vol96/iss3/2/

Rathakrishnan, B. A., Bikar Singh, S. S., Kamaluddin, M. R., Ghazali, M. F., Yahaya, A., Mohamed, N. H., & Krishnan, A. R. (2021). Homesickness and socio-cultural adaptation towards perceived stress among international students of a public university in Sabah: an exploration study for social sustainability. Sustainability, 13(9), 4924.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/4924

Thomas, D. (2020). Factors that contribute to homesickness among students in Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 41(1), 136-141. https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/kjss/article/view/235043