A cross-sectional study of the relationship between homesickness sense of belongingness and perceived control among college students

Pages:119-136
Akanksha Jayant Rajguru (Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health-Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu)
Garima Srivastava (Aryabhatta College, Benito Juarez Marg, New Delhi)

Homesickness is experienced by school and college students; professionals, military soldiers, prison inmates, tourists and refugees. Psychologically homesickness can be described as an adjustment disorder with physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional symptoms. It therefore essentially has three constituents, viz., missing the home environment, adjustment difficulties and associated symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between homesickness, sense of belongingness and perceived control in a sample of college students away from home using methodological triangulation. The sample constituted of 300 students in the age group of 17- 22 years, who are enrolled in as three-year under-graduate degree program at educational institutions in Delhi. The quantitative phase of the study involved administering the Utrecht Homesickness scale (Van Vliet, 2001); Sense of Belongingness Inventory-Psychological (Hagerty & Patusky, 1995); Spheres of Control Scale version 3 (Paulhus, 1983); and COPE inventory (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) followed by trend analysis, co-relational analysis, MANOVA and multiple regression analysis, using SPSS 16.0. The next phase involved analysing the outliers in greater depth and detail by means of a qualitative interview using Interpretative Phenomenological Approach. Empirical data analysis suggests that a significant declining trend was observed in the progression of homesickness over the course of three years corresponding to an increase in the personal control, interpersonal control, socio-political control and sense of belonging. A significant negative correlation was observed between homesickness and personal control, interpersonal control, socio-political control and sense of belonging. Furthermore, prominent coping strategies used by the subjects in an attempt to deal with homesickness were explored using frequency analysis. The qualitative data obtained highlighted some important aspects pertaining to the progression of homesickness, barriers to perceived control, use and evolution of coping strategies over the course of 3 years of staying away from home.