Perceived availability of social support

This study investigated social support and mental health variables as predictors of homesickness in 123 first-year undergraduates. A multiple regression 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 the final model. The inclusion of perceived social support as a factor in models predicting homesickness is discussed.