EXPERIENCE OF HOMESICKNESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG MALAYSIAN YOUNG ADUTLS

Abstract

This research is aimed to explore the young adult’s perception of homesickness and coping strategy used. From there, a few research objectives and research questions were formed to find out what young adults report missing about home, their homesickness experience and actions taken among young adults. Young adults who experience homesickness will tend to use two types of coping strategies, which they are problem focused coping and emotion focused coping. This research was conducted by using 5 Malaysian young adults. The age range for participants are 19-26, experience homesickness and came from another state or city to Kuala Lumpur to study. The recruitment and research will take place in Kuala Lumpur. This research was conducted through a semi-structured interview by using interview questions adapted from other research. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected. The results show that there are 7 areas that participants report missing about their home when experiencing homesickness, such as activity, animal, family, feeling and others. Besides, psychological and emotional effect were found among young adults who experience homesickness. Lastly, the coping strategy used by young adults to deal with homesickness can be concluded into two, which they are problem focused coping strategy and emotion focused coping strategy. More importantly, seeking for social support is the most common way for young adults to deal with homesickness.