Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of being away from home on the well-being of international and domestic UK university students as a function of demographic factors, course load, support, personality, healthy lifestyle, and their employment of pre-planning and being at university strategies. A total of 510 students (n = 391 international and 117 British) completed an on-line survey to record demographic details and measure their well-being, quality of university life, and their being away from home strategies. The findings showed that International students reported greater quality of university life and used more pre-departure strategies; the female students reported a significantly more negative well-being and higher course demand than their male peers. A regression analysis showed that positive well-being was predicted by a positive personality, a healthy lifestyle, control and support for academic work, quality of university life and employing well-being strategies (using technology without over-reliance on it and the ability to unwind from study). Negative well-being, on the other hand, was predicted by a less positive personality and a less healthy lifestyle, a higher course demand, less control and support for academic work and less quality of university life. Moreover, the regression analysis showed that international students who employed more pre-departure strategies showed less negative well-being.
Highlights
Studying at university has the potential to provide a positive experience to students by offering them a significant opportunity to meet and connect with new people and ideas, start their adult life, and make a better future for themselves through earning higher education qualifications
A series of hierarchical regressions was conducted to determine if demographic variables, course demand, control and support, quality of university life, pre-departure and being away from home university strategies predict positive and negative well-being and positive and negative university life
The objective of the current study was to contribute to knowledge about factors that are likely to impact on the well-being of students who leave home to pursue higher education qualifications
Summary
Studying at university has the potential to provide a positive experience to students by offering them a significant opportunity to meet and connect with new people and ideas, start their adult life, and make a better future for themselves through earning higher education qualifications. It has been reported that different populations of work and study sojourners experience negative physical health impacts as a result of being away from home such as fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers (Gardner, Vandelanotte, & Rebar, 2018), immigrants (Gilliver, Sundquist, & Sundquist, 2014), boarding school pupils (Fisher, Frazer, & Murray, 1984) and international students (Andrade, 2006; Chen, 1999; Mori, 2000) All these negative psychological and physical outcomes have been related to the away from home transition when an individual cannot adapt to the new environment, cope with difficulties and challenges, and lose contact with significant social support networks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
