Students' loneliness during cross-cultural adjustments

A paucity of research has focused on the significant impact of loneliness and the role it plays in the process of Cross-Cultural Adaptation (CCA) and particularly on the well-being of international students. Even fewer qualitative research inquiries have addressed the pervasiveness of loneliness and the academic sojourner from a sociopsychological, ethnographic point of view. In this chapter, I address the gaps in research on international students, focusing on the causes and effects of loneliness during the process of adjustment. Evidence predicated on findings from ethnographic research on French students over the last decade is based on three main network models of friendship described in literature. This is presented and elaborated by extant literature investigating other cultures in transition.