Loneliness among Chinese international and local students in Germany: the role of student status, gender, and emotional support

Basak Bilecen*, Isabell Diekmann, Thomas Faist

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

For students, studying abroad has its advantages but might also have unwanted adverse effects, such as social isolation and loneliness. We comparatively analyse the role of emotional support in understanding loneliness among Chinese international students and local students in Germany from a gender perspective. Based on a unique sample, our findings suggest that Chinese international students experience higher levels of loneliness than local students. Female Chinese international students are less lonely compared to male ones, whereas the opposite is true for local students. Surprisingly, having a higher number of emotionally supportive ties is associated with higher levels of loneliness for all students. Our subgroup analysis further revealed that the relationship between emotional support and loneliness varies by gender and student status. Female local students benefit from having more emotionally supportive ties, while the opposite is true for female Chinese international students. We recommend conducting a longitudinal study for examining the causality of the relationship between networks and loneliness in the future. Our findings have implications for universities and higher education research in addressing loneliness among students.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)470-488
Number of pages19
JournalEuropean Journal of Higher Education
Volume14
Issue number3
Early online date30-May-2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • Loneliness
  • Personal networks
  • International student mobility
  • Gender
  • Emotional support

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