Perceived availability of social support

This study investigated social support and mental health variables as predi ctors of homesickness in 123 first-year undergraduates. A multiple regressi on analysis found that a low level of perceived social support coupled with a high level of psychological disturbance was predictive of homesickness. In the present study the variables of enacted support, number of people in the personal network and satisfaction with, support received were not in th e final model. The inclusion of perceived social support as a factor in mod els predicting homesickness is discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.