---
_id: '61908'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: For students, study abroad has its advantages but might also have unwanted
    adverse ef-fects, such as social isolation and loneliness. We analyze the role
    of emotional support in understanding loneliness among Chinese international students
    in Germany, in comparison to local students, from a gender perspective. Based
    on a representative sample, our findings suggest that Chinese international students
    feel lonelier than local ones. Female Chinese international students are less
    lonely compared to male ones, whereas the opposite is true for local students.
    Contrary to our expectations, a higher number of emotionally supportive ties is
    associated with higher levels of loneliness for all the students. Our further
    analysis of the correlation between emotional support and loneliness separately
    for the four subgroups indicates that while for female local students having more
    emotionally supportive ties is as-sociated with lower levels of loneliness, for
    female Chinese international students we find the opposite trend. For all male
    students, we find no significant effect of emotional support on loneliness. We
    recommend conducting a longitudinal study for examining the causality of the relationship
    between networks and loneliness in the future. Results have important implica-tions
    for universities and higher education research in understanding the role of networks
    on loneliness.
author:
- first_name: Basak
  full_name: Bilecen, Basak
  last_name: Bilecen
- first_name: Isabell
  full_name: Diekmann, Isabell
  id: '119325'
  last_name: Diekmann
- first_name: Thomas
  full_name: Faist, Thomas
  last_name: Faist
citation:
  ama: 'Bilecen B, Diekmann I, Faist T. <i>The Dark Side of International Student
    Mobility: Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?</i> Vol 178. Centre on Migration,
    Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie; 2023.'
  apa: 'Bilecen, B., Diekmann, I., &#38; Faist, T. (2023). <i>The Dark Side of International
    Student Mobility: Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?</i> (Vol. 178). Centre
    on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie.'
  bibtex: '@book{Bilecen_Diekmann_Faist_2023, title={The Dark Side of International
    Student Mobility: Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?}, volume={178}, publisher={Centre
    on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie},
    author={Bilecen, Basak and Diekmann, Isabell and Faist, Thomas}, year={2023} }'
  chicago: 'Bilecen, Basak, Isabell Diekmann, and Thomas Faist. <i>The Dark Side of
    International Student Mobility: Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?</i> Vol.
    178. Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie,
    2023.'
  ieee: 'B. Bilecen, I. Diekmann, and T. Faist, <i>The Dark Side of International
    Student Mobility: Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?</i>, vol. 178. Centre
    on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie, 2023.'
  mla: 'Bilecen, Basak, et al. <i>The Dark Side of International Student Mobility:
    Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?</i> Centre on Migration, Citizenship and
    Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie, 2023.'
  short: 'B. Bilecen, I. Diekmann, T. Faist, The Dark Side of International Student
    Mobility: Which Students Suffer from Loneliness?, Centre on Migration, Citizenship
    and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für Soziologie, 2023.'
date_created: 2025-10-21T11:21:43Z
date_updated: 2025-10-21T12:06:39Z
extern: '1'
intvolume: '       178'
keyword:
- loneliness
- personal networks
- international student mobility
- gender
- emotional support
language:
- iso: eng
page: '23'
publisher: Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Fakultät für
  Soziologie
status: public
title: 'The Dark Side of International Student Mobility: Which Students Suffer from
  Loneliness?'
type: report
user_id: '119325'
volume: 178
year: '2023'
...