An analysis of friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, and satisfaction levels of international students
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, contentment, and satisfaction among international students, and found that international students with a higher ratio of individuals from the host country in their network claimed to be more satisfied, content, and less homesick.
About: This article is published in International Journal of Intercultural Relations.The article was published on 2011-05-01. It has received 595 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Friendship & Study abroad.
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TL;DR: Nostalgia is a self-conscious, bittersweet but predominantly positive and fundamentally social emotion as mentioned in this paper, which arises from fond memories mixed with yearning about one's childhood, close relationships, or atypically positive events, and it entails a redemption trajectory.
Abstract: Nostalgia is a self-conscious, bittersweet but predominantly positive and fundamentally social emotion. It arises from fond memories mixed with yearning about one's childhood, close relationships, or atypically positive events, and it entails a redemption trajectory. It is triggered by a variety of external stimuli or internal states, is prevalent, is universal, and is experienced across ages. Nostalgia serves a self-oriented function (by raising self-positivity and facilitating perceptions of a positive future), an existential function (by increasing perceptions of life as meaningful), and a sociality function (by increasing social connectedness, reinforcing socially oriented action tendencies, and promoting prosocial behavior). These functions are independent of the positive affect that nostalgia may incite. Also, nostalgia-elicited sociality often mediates the self-positivity and existential functions. In addition, nostalgia maintains psychological and physiological homeostasis along the following regulatory cycle: (i) Noxious stimuli, as general as avoidance motivation and as specific as self-threat (negative performance feedback), existential threat (meaninglessness, mortality awareness), social threat (loneliness, social exclusion), well-being threat (stress, boredom), or, perhaps surprisingly, physical coldness intensify felt nostalgia; (ii) in turn, nostalgia (measured or manipulated) alleviates the impact of threat by curtailing the influence of avoidance motivation on approach motivation, buttressing the self from threat, limiting defensive responding to meaninglessness, assuaging existential anxiety, repairing interpersonal isolation, diminishing the blow of stress, relieving boredom through meaning reestablishment, or producing the sensation of physical warmth. Nostalgia has a checkered history, but is now rehabilitated as an adaptive psychological resource.
246 citations
TL;DR: New research points to promising prevention and treatment strategies for homesick students, the result of which can be a healthy, gratifying, and productive educational experience.
Abstract: Absract The transition to college or university can be an exciting new experience for many young adults. For some, intense homesickness can make this move difficult, even unsustainable. Homesickness—defined as the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home—carries the unique hallmark of preoccupying thoughts of home and attachment objects. Sufferers typically report depression and anxiety, withdrawn behavior, and difficulty focusing on topics unrelated to home. For domestic and international university students, intense homesickness is particularly problematic. It can exacerbate preexisting mood and anxiety disorders, precipitate new mental and physical health problems, and sometimes lead to withdrawal from school. New research, consolidated here for the first time, points to promising prevention and treatment strategies for homesick students, the result of which can be a healthy, gratifying, and productive educational experience.
224 citations
Cites background from "An analysis of friendship networks,..."
...1 , 5 Indeed, nearly all people miss something about home when they are away, making homesickness a nearly universal experience....
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TL;DR: The authors used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the buffering effects of a sense of belongingness on cross-cultural interaction and academic success, where belongingness refers to the sense of connection with one's university, a strong support network, and a balance of academic challenge and support.
209 citations
TL;DR: This article found that place satisfaction is positively associated with place dependence, identity, affect, and social bonding, while gender moderates the relationship between environmental behavioral intention and place attachment, and the conditional indirect effect of place satisfaction on place attachment is significant only for male visitors.
187 citations
Additional excerpts
...Place social bonding was found to be a significant predictor of place satisfaction (Hendrickson et al., 2011; Ramkissoon et al., 2013a) in nature-based settings....
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TL;DR: Engagement activities in an online resource exchange community exploring elements such as sense of belonging, connectedness, and trust confirmed that members who have not met face-to-face with other members have a lower sense of belonged to the community than those who have.
Abstract: The current study investigates engagement activities in an online resource exchange community exploring elements such as sense of belonging, connectedness, and trust. CouchSurfing.com is an online cultural exchange community in which members from around the globe coordinate travel accommodations and organize gatherings with fellow members via a social media platform. Findings confirmed that members who have not met face-to-face with other members have a lower sense of belonging to the community than those who have. Increased attendance to gatherings was positively related to sense of belonging to the community, and hosting had a positive relationship with trust in the community. Additionally, CouchSurfers reported that they preferred to be contacted through personal e-mails rather then group e-mails, while those who reported an increased participation in gatherings found group e-mails to be useful.
163 citations
References
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Book•
25 Nov 1994TL;DR: This paper presents mathematical representation of social networks in the social and behavioral sciences through the lens of Dyadic and Triadic Interaction Models, which describes the relationships between actor and group measures and the structure of networks.
Abstract: Part I. Introduction: Networks, Relations, and Structure: 1. Relations and networks in the social and behavioral sciences 2. Social network data: collection and application Part II. Mathematical Representations of Social Networks: 3. Notation 4. Graphs and matrixes Part III. Structural and Locational Properties: 5. Centrality, prestige, and related actor and group measures 6. Structural balance, clusterability, and transitivity 7. Cohesive subgroups 8. Affiliations, co-memberships, and overlapping subgroups Part IV. Roles and Positions: 9. Structural equivalence 10. Blockmodels 11. Relational algebras 12. Network positions and roles Part V. Dyadic and Triadic Methods: 13. Dyads 14. Triads Part VI. Statistical Dyadic Interaction Models: 15. Statistical analysis of single relational networks 16. Stochastic blockmodels and goodness-of-fit indices Part VII. Epilogue: 17. Future directions.
17,104 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1954TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the dynamics of prejudgment, including: Frustration, Aggression and Hatred, Anxiety, Sex, and Guilt, Demagogy, and Tolerant Personality.
Abstract: Preferential Thinking * What Is the Problem? * The Normality of Prejudgment * Formation of In-Groups * Rejection of Out-Groups * Patterning and Extent of Prejudice Group Differences * The Scientific Study of Group Differences * Racial and Ethnic Differences * Visibility and Strangeness * Traits Due to Victimization Perceiving And Thinking About Group Differences * The Cognitive Process * Linguistic Factors * Stereotypes in Our Culture * Theories of Prejudice Sociocultural Factors * Social Structure And Cultural Pattern * Choice of Scapegoats * The Effect of Contact * Acquiring Prejudice * Conforming * The Young Child * Later Learning * Inner Conflict The Dynamics Of Prejudice * Frustration * Aggression and Hatred * Anxiety, Sex, and Guilt * Projection Character Structure * The Prejudiced Personality * Demagogy * The Tolerant Personality * Religion and Prejudice Reducing Group Tensions * Ought There to Be a Law? * Evaluation of Programs * Limitations and Horizons
13,470 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a method to solve the problem of the "missing link" problem in the context of Haifa University, Israel, and their Ph.D. dissertation.
Abstract: of Ph.D. dissertation, University of Haifa, Israel.
7,638 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals achieve their goals.
Abstract: This book introduces the non-specialist reader to the principal ideas, nature and purpose of social network analysis. Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals achieve their goals. Social network theory maps these relationships between individual actors. Though relatively new on the scene it has become hugely influential across the social sciences. Assuming no prior knowledge of quantitative sociology, this book presents the key ideas in context through examples and illustrations. Using a structured approach to understanding work in this area, John Scott signposts further reading and online sources so readers can develop their knowledge and skills to become practitioners of this research method. A series of Frequently Asked Questions takes the reader through the main objections raised against social network analysis and answers the various queries that will come up once the reader has worked their way through the book.
5,439 citations
01 Jun 1954
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the dynamics of prejudgment, including: Frustration, Aggression and Hatred, Anxiety, Sex, and Guilt, Demagogy, and Tolerant Personality.
Abstract: Preferential Thinking * What Is the Problem? * The Normality of Prejudgment * Formation of In-Groups * Rejection of Out-Groups * Patterning and Extent of Prejudice Group Differences * The Scientific Study of Group Differences * Racial and Ethnic Differences * Visibility and Strangeness * Traits Due to Victimization Perceiving And Thinking About Group Differences * The Cognitive Process * Linguistic Factors * Stereotypes in Our Culture * Theories of Prejudice Sociocultural Factors * Social Structure And Cultural Pattern * Choice of Scapegoats * The Effect of Contact * Acquiring Prejudice * Conforming * The Young Child * Later Learning * Inner Conflict The Dynamics Of Prejudice * Frustration * Aggression and Hatred * Anxiety, Sex, and Guilt * Projection Character Structure * The Prejudiced Personality * Demagogy * The Tolerant Personality * Religion and Prejudice Reducing Group Tensions * Ought There to Be a Law? * Evaluation of Programs * Limitations and Horizons
4,869 citations