THE NOSTALGIA OF IMMIGRANTS.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS.

Maria Klimentyeva,Moscow State Linguistic University

THE AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

Describing and studying the phenomenon of nostalgia in the context of cultural adaptation

Identifying factors, which trigger and affect the feeling of nostalgia

THE TASKS

To analyse scientific literature on the topic To analyse the methodological techniques used to

study nostalgia, which were described in the literature To conduct the research on the feeling of nostalgia

particularly in the context of acculturative stress To determine the factors that trigger nostalgia and its

relation to acculturative stress To explain the role of such factors as gender, age and

ethnicity in experiencing nostalgia and acculturative stress

To analyse the results and to present the conclusions

APPROACHES TO STUDYING NOSTALGIA

A psychiatric and psychosomatic disorder (17 century, J. Hofer)

A subjective experience, an internal process or work, which restores the continuity of one’s life line and the integrity of “the self” (F.E. Vasilyuk, A.B. Fenko, 1994)

Involuntary memory or affective involuntary recalling, maintains the illusion of continuity in situations of sudden life changes (A.V. Zinchenko, 2009)

A complex culturally determined emotion, from the group of well-being emotions, has social bases and a dualistic nature, namely a positive experience with tones of loss (western studies, A. Ortony, A. Collins, C. Sedikides, T. Wildshut, D. Baden, etc)

THE HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH

The general hypothesis: nostalgia experienced in the context of cross-cultural adaptation is determined by the period spent in the new country and several particular factors.

THE HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH

The specific hypotheses:

The sense of nostalgia is one of the most

significant components of acculturative stress at the later stages of cross-cultural adaptation and is connected with the feeling of loss

The contents of nostalgia and its intensity depend on the ethnicity, gender and age of immigrants

NOVELTY AND THEORETICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS RESEARCH

We designed a special questionnaire to conduct a full analysis of nostalgia and identify its sources, components and characteristics.

We studied nostalgia particularly in the context of acculturative stress and described its role at different stages of cultural adaptation.

Finally, we compared the results and singled out the differences between two groups of participants – Russian immigrants living in English-speaking countries, and English-speaking immigrants living in Russia.

THE METHODS USED IN THIS RESEARCH

Survey “Describing Nostalgia” (16 questions)Includes open questions and one question with a list of 20 objects.

Survey “Acculturative Stress Factors” (73 factors)

THE PARTICIPANTS

2 groups of participants:

• Immigrants from English-speaking countries living in Russia

• Russian immigrants living in English-speaking countries

THE CONTENT-ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY “DESCRIBING NOSTALGIA”

Nostalgia, the components: motivational (25), emotional (62), cognitive (24)

Positive/Negative/Neutral feeling: 39, 14, 4. The past (65). Home (31). Leisure (26). Holidays (13). Time (40). Distance (24). People (68). Lack of something (34). Differences: environmental differences (25), cultural

differences (10), being in a foreign country (26), strange people (10).

Perception (20). Life (18).

FACTOR ANALYSIS OF QUESTION 11 OF THE SURVEY “DESCRIBING NOSTALGIA”

  

              

 Home and

family12,90

 Close people

10,28

Feeling of love and

attachment7,77

 Traditions

8,58

 Childhood

10,73

Motherland and familiar environment

28,26

Yearning for things left behind

 

home holidays parents TV shows, movies someone beloved feelings from the past pets the comfort of living food places to go to at leisure a job/jobs from the past the climate hobbies social life/friends the way people are in the native

country the hometown outdoors activities games/toys traditions and holidays culture and arts

MISSING THINGS THAT WERE LEFT BEHIND

Aspects of past life at home

8,1 7,8

6,1

54,2 4,1 3,9 3,9 3,8 3,6 3,6 3,5 3,3 3,3 3,1

2,5 2,2 21,5 1,4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

home

holiday

s

parent

s

TV sho

ws, m

ovie

s

som

eone

bel

oved

feel

ings

from

the

past

pets

the

com

fort

of liv

ing

food

place

s to

go to

at l

eisur

e

a jo

b/jobs

from

the

past

the

clim

ate

hobbies

soci

al li

fe/fr

iend

s

people

the

homet

own

outdoors

act

iviti

es

games

/toys

traditi

ons a

nd h

olid

ays

cultu

re a

nd arts

THE ROLES OF GENDER AND AGE

Nostalgia and age

3,854,01

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Age groups

from 21 to 29

from 30 to 44

Nostalgia and gender

43,8

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Gender groups

men

women

NOSTALGIA AND ETHNICITY

Nostalgia and ethnicity

4,3

3,7

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

Ethnic groups

Russians

Engl-sp

NOSTALGIA AND ADAPTATION STAGES

Nostalgia and adaptation stages

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Stages

up to 1 year

1-3 years

more than 3years

ACCULTURATIVE STRESS. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTORS.

• «Separation from close people» (33,47)• «Inability to frequently communicate with friends and family from home» (26,53)• «Not having enough family and friends in their social circle» (23,41)• «The sense of nostalgia» (22,41)• «Being far from home» (20,17)• «Lack of knowledge of the language people speak in this country » (19,52)• «Missing the home and the places of one’s childhood» (18,36)• «Differences in medical services» (16,18)• «Foreign language environment» (15,27)

THE ROLE OF GENDER AND AGE IN ACCULTURATIVE STRESS

Acculturative stress in 3 age groups

10,611,6

7,4

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Age groups

from 18 to 25

from 27 to 35

from 37 to 82

Acculturative stress and gender

10,3

11,5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Gender groups

Women

Men

ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AND STAGES OF ADAPTATION

Acculturative stress at different stages of adaptation

15,414,6

5,9

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Stages of adaptation

Str

ess

leve

l

up to 1 year

from 1 to 3 years

more than 3 years

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTORS OF ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AT THE LATER STAGES OF

ADAPTATION

Although in general the level of acculturative stress gradually decreases with time, we managed to single out the stress factors, which remain significant even at the later stages of adaptation:

- «Separation from close people» (17,5)

- «Inability to frequently communicate with friends and family from home» (14,4)

- «Not having enough family and friends in their social circle» (13,0)

- «Lack of knowledge of the language people speak in this country» (12,3)

- «Foreign language environment» (11,6)

- «Missing the home and the places of one’s childhood» (11,3)

- «Difficulties understanding several people talking at the same time» (11,0)

- «The sense of nostalgia» (8,7)

COMPARING THE RESULTS OF THE ACCULTURATIVE STRESS SURVEY BETWEEN TWO GROUPS OF

RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING PARTICIPANTS

Acculturative stress and ethnicity

9,1

15,3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Ethnic groups

Str

ess

leve

l

Russians

Eng-sp

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING PARTICIPANTS IN FACTORS OF STRESS

Comparing two ethnic groups 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Kno

wle

dge

of f

orei

gn la

ngau

ge

For

eign

lang

uage

env

ironm

ent

Und

erst

andi

ng p

eopl

e sp

eaki

ngsi

mul

tane

ousl

y

Lack

of

com

mun

icat

ion

in n

ativ

ela

ngua

ge

Non

-ver

bal c

omm

unic

atio

n

Diff

eren

t tr

aditi

onal

foo

d

Lack

of

nativ

e la

ngua

ge o

n T

V

Lack

of

free

tim

e

Lack

of

leis

ure

time

poss

ibili

ties

Neg

ativ

e at

titud

e fr

om n

ativ

epo

pula

tion

Con

tem

ptuo

us a

ttitu

de

Agg

ress

ive

attit

ude

Russians

Engl-sp.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING PARTICIPANTS IN FACTORS OF STRESS

Comparing the two ethnic groups 2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Bei

ng fa

r fr

omho

me

Em

ploy

men

t

Per

man

ent j

ob

Com

mun

icat

ion

with

rel

ativ

es

Sep

arat

ion

from

clo

sepe

ople

Leav

ing

grav

esbe

hind

Hom

esic

knes

s

Med

icin

e

Russians

Engl-sp.

COMPARING THE TWO PARTS OF THE RESEARCH.STAGES OF ADAPTATION.

Nostalgia and adaptation stages

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Stages

Acculturative stress at different stages

15,414,6

5,9

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Stages of adaptation

Str

ess level

up to 1 year

from 1 to 3 years

more than 3 years

COMPARING THE TWO PARTS OF THE RESEARCH. ETHNIC GROUPS.

Nostalgia and ethnicity

4,3

3,7

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

Ethnic groups

Acculturative stress and ethnicity

9,1

15,3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Ethnic groups

Stre

ss le

vel

Russians

Eng-sp

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Nostalgia is characterised by a complex of emotional experiences - positive as well as negative. Nostalgia is related to sadness and loss in the situation of being at a spatial and time distance from home

and close people, when the differences between the familiar and new environments make life inconvenient and stressful.

Nostalgia includes motivational and cognitive components: a person understands and reevaluates the role of the motherland and the sense of self, his or her inseparable connection with close people and home. Nostalgia is related to such processes as memory, imagination and internal reflection, namely memories and fantasies of an idealised past.

6 factors of loss: «Motherland and familiar environment», «Family and home», «Childhood», «Close people», «Traditions», «Feeling of love and attachment». Youth and adolescence are the most important periods of life.

People experience acculturative stress and nostalgia differently at all stages of cultural adaptation. The factors of loss and nostalgia in acculturative stress are among the most significant ones at all stages

of cultural adaptation. Their significance is especially obvious at the later stages when the other factors cease to cause stress due to immigrants’ successful adjustment to the new cultural environment.

The way people experience nostalgia and acculturative stress differs according to immigrants’ ethnicity and cultural origins.

Nostalgia builds a positive image of one’s homeland, maintains the sense of selfhood and the person’s identity throughout their whole life. At the later stages of cultural adaptation it might be the reason for an inability to fully assimilate to a foreign environment regardless of the amount of time spent in it.

THE END

Thank you for your attention.