CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 829International Student and Expatriate ChallengesHigher Education Governance and DevelopmentHigher Education Research Studies

Loneliness and international students: an Australian study

Open access
Sawir, Erlenawati, Marginson, Simon, Deumert, Ana, Nyland, Chris, Ramia, Gaby·2008·Journal of Studies in International Education
DOI 10.1177/1028315307299699
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

In a study of international student security, consisting of 200 intensive interviews with students, resident onshore in Australia, it was found that two thirds of the group had experienced problems of loneliness and/or isolation, especially in the early months. According to Weiss, students experience both personal loneliness because of the loss of contact with families and social loneliness because of the loss of networks. Both forms of loneliness are at times exacerbated by their experiences in institutional sites. The article discusses the coping mechanisms that students use. It identifies a third kind of loneliness experienced by international students, cultural loneliness , triggered by the absence of the preferred cultural and/or linguistic environment. This can affect even students with adequate personal and social support. Thus, same-culture networks are often crucial for international students. Yet same-culture networks are not a universal panacea: They cannot substitute for adequate pastoral care by universities or ensure satisfactory engagement with local cultures, so some causes of cultural loneliness often remain. The article concludes that the creation of stronger bonds between international and local students in the educational setting, helping international students to remake their own cultural maps on their own terms, is key to a forward move on loneliness.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1028315307299699

Cites

49 of 49 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Cultural loneliness is linked to poorer perceived social support and higher psychological discomfort among international students.

    “Cultural loneliness is a feeling of isolation that results from being in a foreign cultural or linguistic environment (Sawir et al., 2008); this has been proven to be highly relevant among this population and linked to poorer perceived social support and higher psychological discomfort (Cipolletta et al., 2022).”

    From Social connections combat loneliness and promote wellbeing among college students coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic (2025) · cites this paper as Sawir et al., 2008

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Deumert, A., Nyland, C., & Ramia, G.
Affiliations
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
  • Monash University (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Studies in International Education
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2007-09-13
Volume
12
Issue
2
Pages
148-180
ISSN
  • 1028-3153 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-7808
DOI
10.1177/1028315307299699
OpenAlex
W2156931657
Cited by
829
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 54 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 76 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 71 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 34
FWCI
49.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Studies in International Education (publishedVersion)
  • Acquire (CQUniversity) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Communication › International Student and Expatriate Challenges
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Higher Education Governance and Development
  • Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
Keywords
loneliness, international students, social isolation, coping strategies, pastoral care, student engagement, cross-cultural interaction, Australian higher education

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review