Page 133 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

network could be detrimental to sojourners’ psychological adjustment by lowering perceived social support, which, in turn, heightened depressive symptoms. Notably, perceived social support was not simply an outcome, but also a predictor of SNS social interactions. Those who felt socially supported were more likely to interact with the host-country network via SNS. Taken together, the findings validate the social enhancement hypothesis, which postulates that those with thriving face-to- face social networks, and better adjustment, tend to have more active online social interactions (Lee, 2009; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007b).
Chapter 3: Social Interactions, Homesickness, and Sociocultural Adjustment
Key Finding 4: In the long- and the short-term, SNS interaction with the host-country network alleviated homesickness; which, in turn, contributed to better sociocultural adjustment.
Key Finding 5: In the short-term, homesickness increased SNS interaction with the host-country network.
Chapter 3 zoomed in on the relative impacts of social interactions (face-to-face interaction with the host-country, and SNS interactions with the host- and the home-country networks) on homesickness (a sojourn-related negative subjective outcome), and, in turn, its influence on sociocultural adjustment. The results indicated that SNS interaction with the host-country lowered homesickness, in the long- and the short-term. Paradoxically, homesickness increased SNS interaction with the host-country in the short-term. Face-to-face interaction with the host- country network and SNS interaction with the home-country network were not associated with homesickness. Lastly, homesickness lowered sociocultural adjustment only in the short-term. At a glance, these findings provide an optimistic depiction of the role of SNS in sojourners’ adjustment. However, the reciprocal effects between SNS interaction with the host-country network and homesickness imply a positive feedback loop. According to the Reinforcing Spirals Model of Slater (2015), a positive feedback loop, if left unchecked, could lead to extreme levels. In this case, the alleviating effects of SNS interaction on homesickness could potentially lead to ever increasing SNS use. One possible implication of these results is that users are likely to build reliance on SNS interaction for relief;
General Discussion 131