Migrants need to belong too: Effects of social belonging on homesickness and migrant adjustment

Belongingness theory proposes that humans possess an innate drive for a minimum number of lasting interpersonal relationships. On geographic relocation, people leave their existing social networks. This greatly threatens belongingness needs, and we propose this is one cause of homesickness in migrants. Two studies investigated whether homesickness arises in the need to belong. Study 1 used a correlational design to test the relationship between the need to belong and homesickness while controlling for other variables. A significant positive relationship was found. Study 2 then used an experimental manipulation to test for a casual effect of the need to belong on homesickness. The results showed a significant effect of need to belong. An additional finding was that individuals who felt accepted in the community were less homesick and experienced fewer sociocultural adaptation difficulties. This was independent of number of friends or social involvement in the community, and demonstrates an important link between community attitudes and migrant adjustment. Homesickness also did not decrease with increasing time in the new location. Implications for belongingness theory are discussed.