Social rank, interpersonal trust and recall of parental rearing in relation to homesickness

This study set out to explore the relationship between recall of parental rearing, social rank, interpersonal trust and homesickness. Eighty-nine first year undergraduates (59 women and 30 men) living away from home and attending the University of Derby completed a set of questionnaires in their sixth week in the first semester at university. Results indicate that recall of supportive parenting is associated with lower homesickness, favourable social rank and greater interpersonal trust. Conversely, recall of parental rejection correlated with great homesickness, feeling inferior to others, and lower interpersonal trust. Two separate multiple regression analyses revealed that both the parental rearing variables, and the social rank and interpersonal trust variables, produced significant models in the prediction of homesickness scores. Mediation analysis suggests that whilst recalling one’s parents as rejecting is directly associated with increased homesickness, it may also generate feelings of inferiority that may lead to distress when moving into new environments.