Homesickness Among International Students Essay

In the past few decades, international students’ enrollments in the United States have increased greatly in higher education institutions (Gómez, Urzúa, and Glass, 2014). According to the literature, many international students who attend higher education institutions in the United States find the campus environment to be very stressful, demanding and challenging (Yakunina, Weigold, Weigold, Herecegovc, and Elsayed, 2013). As a result, many international students end up dropping out from their institutions due to lack of help from navigating the foreign education system, lack of motivation and complications with understanding where to seek help from other individuals (Yakunina et al., 2013). Due to these issues, international students can face even greater challenge adjustment problems that may affect the student’s academic success and wellbeing (Poyrazli and Grahame, 2007). One of the major issues that these international students face is language barrier that surrounds them in a new country (Yakunina et …show more content…
This brings on one of the biggest stressors that many international students face, homesickness. Homesickness is rated one of the most frequently reported concerns for international students within the United States. There are usually several factors that can cause concerns for those suffering from homesickness (Kegel, 2009). Some of these factors can be: “missing family, missing friends, feeling lonely, adjustment problems, and home ruminations” (Kegel, 2009). All these factors, whether some international students might only have one or for some several, can not only cause problems that end up effecting their immediate surrounding students, who might also be international students, but also how they, the international student, end up adjusting within the transitioning into their new environment (Kegel,