Maintaining Long-Distance Friendships: Communication Practices For Seeking And Providing Social Support Across Geographic Divides

Abstract

People seek and provide support through their personal social network, especially when they must cope with stress, deal with an emergency, or need help. Coping with a new culture or new environment is a stressful situation that sojourner students must face. Support through friendship plays an important role in facing such new situations. Focusing on the perspectives of Asian student sojourners, this study addresses the challenges that they face in soliciting, receiving, and providing social support from friends back home. The results from interviewing 25 Asian student sojourners revealed that few students included in the study lacked physical support. However, when they found that they must cope with a big problem, their friends would still be close and help them. The participants in this research reported perceiving emotional support from their friends while abroad, similar to the support they enjoyed when they were home. The participants also noted that they experienced satisfaction through mediated communication but that they preferred face-to-face communication.