Homesickness and Friend-sickness as Predictors of Loneliness among Year One Students of Enugu State University of Science and Technology

Abstract

This study explored the roles of homesickness and friend-sickness in determining loneliness among undergraduate students. Two hundred and forty-four (244) participants comprising 140 female s and 104 males were part of the study. The participants’ age ranged from 18 to 26 years with a mean age of 21.52 years and a standard deviation of 2.01 years. All the participants lived with their parents before they gained admission. The participants were selected among the population of year one students living in the hostels of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Agbani – Enugu State using convenience sampling technique. Loneliness questionnaire, Homesickness questionnaire and Friendsickness questionnaire developed by Agu (2013) with a reliability coefficient of .54, .52 and .80 were obtained respectively. Cross sectional research design was adopted while Pearson product moment correlation coefficient statistics result yielded revealed a significant positive relationship, between homesickness and loneliness; a significant positive relationship, between friendsickness and loneliness among year one students of ESUT. This study has revealed other significant variables in the development of loneliness among adolescents.  The result will also educate stakeholders in the education sector to further explore the effect loneliness could have on the overall academic performance of undergraduates.