PAC Analysis of Loneliness of International Students

2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 13610124
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 教育・社会系心理学
• Research Institution: SHINSHU UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: NAITO Tetsuo SHINSHU UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF ARTS, PROFESSOR, 人文学部, 教授 (20172249)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2003
• Keywords: international student / loneliness / personal diagnosis / free association / cluster analysis / intersubjective interpretation / PAC Analysis

Research Abstract

Structures of loneliness of international students are diverse because they are determined by aim of studying abroad, cultural differences, life environment, maturity of Japanese, graduate or undergraduate, term, age, spouse, personality, values and so on. So, I made use of PAC Analysis to investigate personal construct of loneliness. PAC Analysis is constituted of free association, cluster analysis and intersubjective interpretation.
Cases, which I investigated for three years, revealed that (1) at the short term exchange and early stage of studying overseas, foreign students are embarrassed and feel lonesome by being involved in Japanese language, culture and people, (2) staying over 4 years, they have no problems of daily life, but are apt to lose their first hope, (3) over 30 years old students, who stayed and studied for a long period in Japan, feel inclined to reconstruct their identities, (4) the religious interpret their loneliness as test, (5) discrepancy of interpersonal schema (cognitive style) make strong loneliness. Generally, as they stayed longer, contents of loneliness changed from inter-and cross-cultural adjustment to identity reconstruction for the now and the future. At the last, we recognized that PAC Analysis is effective in counseling.