Page 67 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

Facebook interactions and homesickness. Research on the association of homesickness and the use of social network sites such as Facebook is still very limited (Stroebe et al., 2015a). Previous studies on the associations of the use of social network sites and psychological states similar to homesickness (such as loneliness and connectedness) yielded inconsistent results (Verduyn et al., 2017). On the one hand, SNS and Facebook use was found to be associated with greater sense of connection, greater feelings of bonding social capital, and lower levels of loneliness (Burke & Kraut, 2016; Verduyn et al., 2017). On the other hand, Facebook use has been shown to be associated with lowered wellbeing (Kross et al., 2013; Shakya & Christakis, 2016). In a cross-sectional study, Hofhuis, Hanke, and Rutten (2019) found that (passive and active) SNS contacts with home-country relations of international students had a negative association with psychological alienation (which included social inclusion, sense of belonging, homesickness). The inconsistencies of the findings of these previous studies were attributed to the variety of ways Facebook use were measured (e.g., active versus passive use, with strong ties versus weak ties) (Burke & Kraut, 2016; Verduyn et al., 2017). According to Burke and Kraut (2016), people may benefit from Facebook when communication are active, direct interactions with people they care about. Taking this into account, in our current study, we defined Facebook use as social interactions (active) with significant others.
Klingensmith’s (2010) findings provided initial evidence that the use of Facebook might not be necessarily helping students to cope with homesickness. Homesickness experienced specifically in relation to friends (i.e., friendsickness) has been found to be positively associated with students’ Facebook use intensity. Since the finding was correlational, it could imply both directions of causation, namely that greater Facebook use increased friendsickness; or, friendsick students were more likely to use Facebook. Similar questions arise with respect to the use of Facebook with the host- and the home-country networks. In this research too, it is still a question whether communication via Facebook (with the host- and the home-country networks) is an opportunity to cope with homesickness or a source of homesickness (Stroebe et al., 2015a). Considering the lack of consensus in previous studies, we asked:
RQ2: What is the impact of Facebook interaction with the host-country network on homesickness?
RQ3: What is the impact of Facebook interaction with the home-country network on homesickness?
SNS, Homesickness, and Adjustment 65