Homesickness, temperament and character

Several authors have suggested that homesickness involves some vulnerable personality characteristics. The first objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between severe feelings of homesickness and general temperament and character dimensions. The second objective was to investigate the relative contribution of homesickness-specific personality factors to the prediction of the severity of homesickness over and above the contribution of more general temperament and character factors. Two large population samples were used. One sample completed the Dutch version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), whereas the other sample completed the shortened Dutch TCI as well as the Homesickness Vulnerability Questionnaire (HVQ). The association between the scales of both TCI-versions and the severity of homesickness was found to be robust. Homesickness is in general characterised by higher scores on Harm Avoidance and Reward Dependence. In addition, severe homesickness is characterised by lower Self-Directedness and, to a lesser extent, higher Self-Transcendence. It appeared that the severity of homesickness was predicted by high scores on Harm Avoidance, low scores on Self-Directedness, high scores on Rigidity and, above all, earlier Homesickness experiences. Earlier Homesickness experiences are the strongest predictor of the severity of homesickness. General personality factors do have some predictive power, in contrast to homesickness-specific personality factors, which appeared to add little to the prediction of homesickness. However, the HVQ may be considered a useful instrument in detecting homesickness-specific features, which might be helpful in the planning of treatment and management of the therapeutic relationship.