Homesickness in preadolescent and adolescent girls: Risk factors, behavioral correlates, and sequelae

Examined homesickness in 117 girls ages 8 to 16 during a 2-week stay at sum mer camp. (Homesickness is the distress or impairment caused by an actual o r anticipated separation from home. It is characterized by acute longing an d preoccupying thoughts of home and attachment objects.) Elevated presepara tion levels of homesickness, high expectations of homesickness, negative se paration attitudes, low decision control, and little previous separation ex perience predicted in-camp levels of homesickness. During the separation, h omesickness was associated with insecure interpersonal attitudes, negative initial impressions of the novel environment, high perceived distance from home, and low perceived control. Female surrogate caregivers rated homesick girls as having lower social status and more somatic complaints, social pr oblems, and externalizing behavior than less homesick girls. Although the p revalence, intensity, and longitudinal course of homesickness in girls did not differ from analogous samples of boys, girls' profile of risk factors, correlates, and sequelae is unique in its mixed behavioral presentation and small correlations with age and experience.