Homesickness in college students: the role of religion in combating depression

Abstract

While religiousness has been seen to function as a protective factor in a variety of health and well-being areas, little work has been done examining religiousness’ role in depression during adjustment to college in the freshman year. In this investigation, the moderating roles of religiousness in the relationship between homesickness and depression are examined in freshmen college students. Religiousness was found to moderate the relationships between homesickness and depression; however, not fully in the hypothesised protective manner. Those who were higher on global religiousness showed lower depressive symptoms when low in “attachment to home” homesickness compared to those lower on these global religiousness, but there was no association between religiousness measures and depressive symptoms when high in this area of homesickness. Implications for intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.