Homesickness: A Natural Part of Being Away from Home?

Globally mobile individuals are the ones who know by experience how it feels to adjust to a new destination, suffer from reverse cultural shock when returning back home, have a restless urge for new relocations, and finally recognize the homesickness when away from home again. The latter, namely homesickness, is not as pronounced a topic as the others, as in some sense it is considered either childish or immature and does not really seem to fit with the growth in global mobility. However, a recent BBC article suggests that contrary to being considered a childish experience there are many adults who suffer from homesickness. Bringing up the stories of internationally mobile athletes, soldiers, actors, and models, the article makes a point that no matter how far one relocates and for which purposes, homesickness can be still present. As cited in the article, social psychologist Dr Gary Woods argues that, “people can feel homesick by moving just a street away”.

A similar notion is also reflected in a recent academic article by Hack-Polay (2012), who introduces the topic by saying that moving away from home has always led people to feeling homesick. Acknowledging that the focus of international human resource management (HRM) is on facilitating adjustment to the foreign location, which suggests that homesickness is part of it, Hack-Polay aimed to examine homesickness more specifically. Generally, the results of the interviews with 15 company expatriates and 30 migrant workers showed that all of the study participants felt homesick at some point of their international experience regardless of their previous experience of migration, the presence of their family, and basic knowledge of the local language. Moreover, homesickness was found to cause psychological and social disruptions in migrant workers and expatriates.

 

The causes of homesickness

Hack-Polay found that there is a plethora of factors that lead to homesickness, however some of them stood out as the most common.

• First, all respondents saw the cause of homesickness as related either to organizational or societal cultures in the host location. Specifically, feeling that the culture in the host location is very distant and different from home may have led foreign workers to feel ‘out of place’, have difficulties with integration, and feel ‘stupid’ when not understanding how things work. Naturally, this all led to missing the home country with its comfortable and understandable practices. As some of my previous articles suggested, preparing for relocation in terms of cultural training could be beneficial in this case. Becoming aware of the differences between home and host countries may decrease the experienced shock, as well as make an expat see and appreciate these differences in light of personal development and lifelong memories.

• Second, study participants brought up the factor of fear. Fear that caused feelings of missing home was related to the demands of integration, the risk of making mistakes and breaking societal or governmental rules, personal safety, and the practical issues of life (e.g. transportation, social systems). It is possible that this fear is related to the novelty of everything, and hence should diminish as soon as a foreigner gets used to how things are done in the new environment. However, even this initial period of ‘learning’ may have a negative impact on the whole international experience. Therefore, learning about a host country’s societal rules and governmental regulations beforehand, as well as having a local person as a mentor during the first weeks upon arrival is recommended.

• Third, proficiency in the host country language was found to be of critical importance, which is not surprising given that language is a primary source of socialization. Naturally, it is best to master at least a level that allows for communication in the host-country language, but this is not always possible. More generally, language barriers act as a separate issue in global mobility, which was also discussed in one of my previous posts.

• Finally, expatriates highlighted that the factors related to their new position might create the urge for returning home. Specifically, study respondents argued that increased responsibilities, unfamiliarity with the work context and coordination issues were the most impactful. As suggested previously in the international HRM literature, pre-departure training and country visits were reported to ease the transition experience also for the current sample of expatriates. By contrast, migrant workers were more concerned with finding a new job and gaining permanent positions in the host country. Indeed, having job insecurity may create greater feelings of fear and uncertainty abroad even in terms of social life, because work colleagues in the new job can become the primary source of social contacts when abroad.

 

What can be done? Coping strategies

1. Be social while abroad
   Study participants found that exploring the host country while also maintaining social contacts at home were beneficial for their psychological balance. Specifically, the main strategies reported by the foreign workers included the use of social networks, integration with local communities and expatriate groups, increased contact with family and friends back home, and cultural exploration and discovery.
2. Prepare beforehand and get assistance on site
   As mentioned earlier, awareness about the host country and the demands of the transition may decrease the sense of displacement and isolation.  Expatriates can be assisted by their employers through pre-departure trainings and mentoring programs in the host country. Moreover, both for expatriates and migrant workers receiving input from returnees may increase their awareness of what is about to come and create realistic expectations. Finally, it is important to attend some educational courses (cultural, language) upon arrival, because these not only increase knowledge needed in the host country, but also provide new social contacts.
3. Use personal resources and motivation
   Irrespective of the personal factors and circumstances abroad, an individual may develop personal commitment and a willingness to overcome homesickness by driving and maintaining local and distant relationships, keeping an openness and interest towards the host culture, and actively learning from previous transition experiences.

All in all, while it is possible to decrease feelings of homesickness, maybe it is just a natural part of being away from home?

 

Further reading:

Hack-Polay, D. (2012). When Home Isn’t Home – A Study of Homesickness and Coping Strategies among Migrant Workers and Expatriates. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 4 (3).