A prospective study of homesickness in soldiers during military deployment

• A prospective study examining homesickness in soldiers in the military is described.
• Measures taken prior to deployment used to predicted homesickness during deployment.
• High levels of neuroticism predicted homesickness.
• High levels of depression predicted homesickness.
• A tendency to rehearsal one's most negative memory predicted homesickness.

Homesickness has been shown to negatively affect a person's physical, social, and cognitive wellbeing. Research on homesickness tends to focus on university students, young students, and immigrants, and has largely ignored another vulnerable population, namely soldiers deployed to military service. Here we examine homesickness in a company of soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan for six months in 2009. We used measures of personality, depression, and autobiographical memory, all obtained prior to deployment, to predict homesickness during deployment. Pre-deployment measures of neuroticism, and depression as well as a tendency to rehearse one's most negative autobiographical memory, were all predictors of homesickness during deployment. The present study is unique in its prospective design, use of a military sample, and the inclusion of autobiographical memory measures. It replicates and extends previous findings to a military sample and shows the importance of considering memories of negative life events.