Friday, September 27, 2019

This episode of PFN discusses the common phenomenon of missing home. Our guest expert, Dr. Barry Schreier discusses strategies that parents and families can use to help their students who might be missing home. The key takeaway is that almost every student will miss home at some point in their college career and Barry helps us navigate the best ways to help your student.

Dr. Barry Schreier, Director - University Counseling Service

 

It is important to note that feelings associated with missing home are not “one size fits all.”  Cultural norms and influences can be large for students regarding this.  Students from more collective cultures can feel a stronger connection with home that is ongoing through college while students from more individualistic cultures know that college is the time for them to “launch” and so may not struggle as much with this.  Just know that depending on culture and the centrality of family and home vs. the value of individual striving can simplify or complicate what we traditionally call “homesickness.”

Data Dive with Mirra

  • What percentage of students experience homesickness on some level? Close to 100%!!!
  • Research about college student transition tells us that homesickness is especially important to understand and learn how to manage it early on because it can affect student satisfaction and commitment to college and affect students’ social experiences.
  • Student who communicate (via phone or text) to their parents and families, on average, 1-2 times per day:
    • Miss their family back home less, miss old friends back home less, and think about going home less
    • Earn higher GPAs: 2.97-3.02 vs 2.78-2.94
    • Stay at the University of Iowa at higher rates
  • Creating a communication plan with parents and families yields healthier transition experiences
  • And so does getting involved! During the first month or two, students who tell us they are involved in one student organization or club, or plan to do so soon, have higher fall term GPAs compared to students who do not get involved. (3.03 compared to 2.76)

Episode Resources

Listen to Episode 3