Loneliness and International Students: An Australian Study

Abstract

In a study of international student security, consisting of 200 intensive interviews with students, resident onshore in Australia, it was found that two thirds of the group had experienced problems of loneliness and/or isolation, especially in the early months. According to Weiss, students experience both personal loneliness because of the loss of contact with families and social loneliness because of the loss of networks. Both forms of loneliness are at times exacerbated by their experiences in institutional sites. The article discusses the coping mechanisms that students use. It identifies a third kind of loneliness experienced by international students, cultural loneliness , triggered by the absence of the preferred cultural and/or linguistic environment. This can affect even students with adequate personal and social support. Thus, same-culture networks are often crucial for international students. Yet same-culture networks are not a universal panacea: They cannot substitute for adequate pastoral care by universities or ensure satisfactory engagement with local cultures, so some causes of cultural loneliness often remain. The article concludes that the creation of stronger bonds between international and local students in the educational setting, helping international students to remake their own cultural maps on their own terms, is key to a forward move on loneliness.

Cultural adaptation in different facets of life and the impact of language: a case study of personal adjustment patterns during study abroad

“…The difficulty that international students have in establishing contact with locals has been amply discussed in the literature (for example, Sawir, Marginson, Deumert, Nyland, & Ramia, 2008;Townsend & Poh, 2008). When asked about this, Angela attributed the difficulty to the fact that the locals were not particularly interested in foreign students who were only staying for a short time: locals, she argued, did not think it worth investing in them and trying to build friendships.…”

Relações interculturais na vida universitária: experiências de mobilidade internacional de docentes e discentes

“…Em nosso estudo, tais desafios foram enfatizados pelos alunos brasileiros no exterior, o que eles percebem como falta de abertura por parte dos estudantes locais para formação de amizade e relacionamentos. Os relatos de dificuldades de socialização de alunos intercambistas com locais têm sido recorrentes na literatura (Mclachlan;Justice, 2009;Brown, 2009;Townsend;Poh, 2008;Sawir et al, 2008;Brunton, 2007), as quais têm sido usualmente associadas às barreiras do idioma e às diferenças nas normas culturais e na natureza das relações nos países anfitriões. As dificuldades de socialização com alunos locais têm sido associadas ao isolamento e à solidão, especialmente nos meses iniciais da mobilidade ( Sawir et al, 2008), o que também pudemos identificar em um caso relatado em nosso estudo.…”

“…Os relatos de dificuldades de socialização de alunos intercambistas com locais têm sido recorrentes na literatura (Mclachlan;Justice, 2009;Brown, 2009;Townsend;Poh, 2008;Sawir et al, 2008;Brunton, 2007), as quais têm sido usualmente associadas às barreiras do idioma e às diferenças nas normas culturais e na natureza das relações nos países anfitriões. As dificuldades de socialização com alunos locais têm sido associadas ao isolamento e à solidão, especialmente nos meses iniciais da mobilidade ( Sawir et al, 2008), o que também pudemos identificar em um caso relatado em nosso estudo. Por outro lado, os alunos estrangeiros no Brasil não relataram dificuldades de relacionamentos sociais dentro ou fora do contexto universitário, mas ao contrário, afirmam que as características do povo brasileiro favorecem a interação social, em razão de sua sociabilidade, sua abertura e seu interesse pelo estrangeiro.…”

Correlates of Loneliness among Adults of Childbearing Age

“…Sawir et al [6] found that women reported loneliness more often than men in a sample of 200 university students in Australia. Graham and Juvonen [9] reported that adolescents of a minority ethnic group were found to report significantly (p<.001) more loneliness than majority adolescents in a study of 265 adolescents.…”

“…Some studies showed that women report more loneliness than men [6], while other studies report more loneliness among men [7]. Persons of minority groups have also been found to report increased loneliness [8,9].…”