Page 138 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

contacts who have relatively more intact networks as sources of support and other social resources (Primack et al., 2017).
Meanwhile, despite lowered sense of social support, SNS interactions with the host-country network helped sojourners deal with homesickness, both in the short- and the long-term. In the literature, active and targeted communication on SNS with significant others was shown to attenuate similar negative psychological states (e.g., loneliness, disconnectedness) in the general population (Burke & Kraut, 2016; Verduyn, Ybarra, Résibois, Jonides, & Kross, 2017). It is possible that the use of SNS of international sojourners to interact with significant others in the host country is comparable to the use of general population of SNS. Together, the findings of this dissertation demonstrate how SNS use with the host-country network could have differential impacts on sojourn-related subjective outcomes.
Although SNS was used to interact with the home-country network, it did not play a role in facilitating perceived social support, nor in alleviating homesickness. These findings are consistent with previous results that showed that the home- country network is less relevant during sojourn (Mikal, Rice, Abeyta, & De Vilbiss, 2013; Seo et al., 2016; see also Smith & Khawaja, 2011 review). This is not to say that social interactions with the home-country network are not relevant at all, especially since being a sojourner implies going back home. International sojourners still need to maintain their relationships in the home country (Ye, 2006). Reflecting on these findings, it is possible that SNS interactions with the home- and the host-country networks could be serving different purposes for sojourners. It is necessary to explore differential models of sojourners’ adjustment, with separate sets of factors for the home- and for the host-country network contexts. For instance, with the home-country network context, it might be more relevant to investigate social connectedness in relation to family relationship and friendship maintenance. Research on sojourners’ reintegration process when they go back home show the importance of maintaining social interactions with the home-country network (Sussman, 2002). More than in dealing with the stress and difficulties that come with being in a new environment, SNS social interactions with the home-country network might be more relevant in facilitating the eventual reintegration process; for example, in maintaining a sense of connectedness and familiarity with their social, cultural, and even physical environment back home (Hofhuis, Hanke, & Rutten, 2019; Sussman, 2002). Future studies should probe deeper into which aspects of sojourners’ experiences SNS interaction with the home-country network contributes to.
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