Homesickness, mood and self-reported health

The present study focused on health status, mood, cognition, saliva cortiso l, and social activities in homesick (N = 80), homesick-prone (N = 152), re covered (N = 48) and non-homesick adult women (N = 45). Self-reported healt h and mood were decreased and cognitive functions were poorer in homesick a nd homesick-prone subjects compared with non-homesick and recovered persons . Cortisol levels, on the other hand, failed to differ among the four group s. Furthermore, homesick, homesick-prone and recovered individuals reported more difficulties making friends, fear of heights, dislike of travelling a lone, school phobia and less club membership in childhood compared to the n on-homesick. It is suggested that a personality-linked vulnerability factor is responsible for making anxious individuals prone to develop homesicknes s. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.