Thrilling Travel or Lonesome Long Haul? Loneliness and Acculturation Behavior of German Sojourners Abroad

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Acculturation, Multiculturalism, and Positive Youth Development

Abstract

Studying abroad far away from family and friends may put young people at a particular risk to experience loneliness. On that account, behavioral strategies to deal with the challenges of the new living environment are expected to have important implications. With the present study, we investigated adolescents’ experience of loneliness over the course of a school year abroad as well as the longitudinal interplay between loneliness and acculturation behavior in a sample of German students (N = 1,299). Results showed that loneliness increased during the cross-cultural transition but stabilized afterwards. Host-oriented behavior directly decreased loneliness whereas home-oriented behavior increased loneliness by a time-lagged indirect effect via host-oriented behavior. Implications and practical inferences are discussed.

Authors

• Juan Serrano-Sánchez, Fernuniversität in Hagen

• Julia Zimmermann

• Kathrin Jonkmann, Fernuniversität in Hagen