Anticipatory nostalgia: Missing the present before it's gone

Personality and Individual Differences 98 (2016) 75–84

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Anticipatory nostalgia: Missing the present before it's gone Krystine Irene Batcho ⁎, Simran Shikh Department of Psychology, Le Moyne College, 1419 Salt Springs Rd., Syracuse, NY 13214, United States

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 28 September 2015 Received in revised form 7 March 2016 Accepted 29 March 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Personality Emotion Survey

a b s t r a c t Four studies explored anticipatory nostalgia—missing aspects of the present before they are lost in the future—and its relationship to personal nostalgia. In Study 1, 147 undergraduates completed the new Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia and the Nostalgia Inventory, an established measure of personal nostalgia—longing for one's remembered past. Study 2 examined the relationship of each type of nostalgia to tendencies to happiness and sadness and to dispositional measures of social assurance, need to belong and resilience. In Study 3, 123 undergraduates reacted to hypothetical situations, judged the general tendency of people and events to make them happy, sad, or worried, and wrote an essay from one of three time perspectives. Study 4 extended these findings to a solitary neutral task rating photographs and examined the relationship between nostalgia and childhood happiness. The new survey demonstrated acceptable internal and test–retest reliability and a moderate correlation with personal nostalgia. Personal nostalgia was related to remembering the past, favorable affect and reactions, whereas anticipatory nostalgia was aligned with thinking of the future, emotional distancing, difficulty enjoying the present, and a greater tendency to sadness and worry. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nostalgia has been described as bittersweet, because it allows the sweet past to be relived in memory, but the taste is bitter with the knowledge that memory is but a shadow of what can never be again (Castelnuovo-Tedesco, 1980; Kaplan, 1984). Theorists have argued that personal nostalgia represents an inability to accept the loss of the past (Kaplan, 1987; Werman, 1977), to move forward, to appreciate life in the present, or to confront reality (Köneke, 2010; Zinchenko, 2011). Recent research has suggested that the impact of transient nostalgia might depend upon traits such as neuroticism, neuroexcitability for sadness, and narcissism (Barrett et al., 2010; Hart et al., 2011; Köneke, 2010), the belief in identity continuity (Iyer & Jetten, 2011), or social support (Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge, Arndt, & Cordaro, 2010). However, a consensus has emerged among researchers that personal nostalgia promotes psychological wellbeing. Nostalgia has been associated with enhanced social connectedness (Batcho, 1998; Werman, 1977; Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006; Wildschut et al., 2010; Zhou, Sedikides, Wildschut, & Gao, 2008), social competence and relationship satisfaction (Juhl, Sand, & Routledge, 2012), continuity of self (Batcho, DaRin, Nave, & Yaworsky, 2008; Iyer & Jetten, 2011), enhanced self-esteem (Cheung et al., 2013), and social–emotional coping, goal-directed strategies and positive reframing (Batcho, 2013). Nostalgia has been shown to counteract the negative impact of avoidance motivation by strengthening approach motivation (Stephan et al., 2014), and for individuals low in

⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (K.I. Batcho).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.088 0191-8869/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

attachment avoidance, to activate the attachment system in response to threat (Abeyta, Routledge, Roylance, Wildschut, & Sedikides, 2014). However, what if the present is experienced as prematurely past, because mental time travel allows the present to be lived as “past” by imagining it from a vantage point in the future? Knowing that the present will be missed one day presents a unique opportunity to savor the moment and to feel nostalgia for the moment at the same time. This paper refers to the construct of missing aspects of the present before they are gone as anticipatory nostalgia. Does bringing nostalgia into the present sweeten it with the soft glow of reminiscence? Or does it rob the present of pleasure by considering it already gone? Would the benefits of nostalgia be enjoyed when nostalgia is experienced prematurely? By definition, anticipatory nostalgia is a form of nostalgia, but it has not yet been explored as a construct in its own right. Personal nostalgia is missing what has already been lost, whereas anticipatory nostalgia involves missing what has not yet been lost. Triggered by an imagined future, anticipatory nostalgia entails a conflict between an actual present and a hypothetical future one. Anticipatory nostalgia is contingent upon first mentally creating the condition that gives rise to the missing, because the “someday past” is still present. Anticipatory nostalgia entails the experience of the present along with an imagined future and an imagined past. Mindfulness, the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present, has been associated with psychological advantages (Brown & Ryan, 2003), including positive emotional states, higher relationship satisfaction, and decreased mood disturbance and stress (Barnes, Brown, Krusemark, Campbell, & Rogge, 2007). Envisioning the present from a future perspective might distance one from and mute

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the joy of living fully in the moment. Construal Level Theory posits that psychologically distant events are construed on a more abstract level, whereas proximal events are construed on a more concrete level (Kyung, Menon, & Trope, 2010; Trope & Liberman, 2010). Bringing the past into the present, nostalgic memories have been shown to exhibit a mix of abstract and concrete elements (Stephan, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2012). Imagining a hypothetical future in order to live the present as if already past might encourage greater emphasis on abstract construal and psychological distance from the present and decrease direct involvement in the concrete reality of the present (Nussbaum, Trope, & Liberman, 2003). While shifting attention to future loss might allow for benefits such as reappraisal of the present and greater meaningfulness, it would also make salient feelings of sadness engendered by loss. Therefore, the benefits of anticipatory nostalgia might be weaker than or different from those associated with personal nostalgia. In order to identify the benefits or disadvantages of anticipatory nostalgia, an assessment method is needed to launch empirical investigations of its functions and correlates. The present studies introduce such a survey. The first study establishes the reliability of the survey and the association between anticipatory and personal nostalgia. 1. Study 1 1.1. Method 1.1.1. Participants Given that nostalgia has been found to be particularly strong in young adults (Batcho, 1995; Köneke, 2010), undergraduates were recruited for this study. A small stipend was offered to recruit students from across the college. According to self-report, 78% of the student body identify as White, 5% as African American or Black, 4.4% Hispanic, 2.3% Asian, and 1.7% as more than one identity. Eighty nine percent of the undergraduates were awarded federal grant aid, and 69% received federal student loans. A sample of 147 students, 86 women and 61 men, ranging in age from 18 to 47 years (Mdn = 20, SD = 3.18), completed the study. 1.1.2. Material and procedure Participants completed the Nostalgia Inventory and the new Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia. The order of completion of the surveys was counterbalanced across participants. To assess test–retest reliability, participants who had completed the first session early enough in the semester were invited to return 4 weeks after their first session to complete the surveys again. Personal nostalgia as a dispositional trait was assessed with the Nostalgia Inventory (Batcho, 1995, 1998, 2007). Consistent with Stern's (1992) definition of personal nostalgia as the longing for one's past, respondents rate the extent to which they miss each of 20 items from when they were younger on a 9-point scale (1 = not at all, 9 = very much). Items include conceptual aspects such as “not knowing sad or evil things” and concrete aspects such as “someone you loved.” The inventory is reported to have a split-half reliability of .78 and oneweek test–retest reliability of .84 (Batcho, 1995), an acceptable level of internal consistency of .86 as measured by Cronbach's alpha (Batcho et al., 2008), and test–retest reliability of .82 over a 4-week interval (Batcho, Nave, & DaRin, 2011). Items for the survey of proneness to anticipatory nostalgia were constructed using the established Nostalgia Inventory as a guide. Whereas the Nostalgia Inventory focuses on the past, statements written for the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia focus on future loss or change (Appendix A). For example, the Nostalgia Inventory item “the way society was” was rewritten to “society will change.” Similarly, the Nostalgia Inventory item “not having to worry” was rewritten to “a carefree time period of few responsibilities will end.” Given a 9-point scale (1 = rarely/not very, 9 = very often/very much), respondents were instructed: “Sometimes we realize that something won't last

forever. It can be an activity, a thing, or time with a person or group. Using the scale below, CIRCLE a number to estimate how often or to what extent you feel like you already miss each of the items before the change has happened.” Participants also responded to three world view questions used in prior studies of personal nostalgia to assess the general tendency toward optimism or pessimism (Batcho, 1995, 1998). On a 9-point scale, participants evaluated the world as it is now (1 = pretty bad, 9 = great), as it will be 20 years from now (1 = a lot worse, 9 = a lot better), and as it was when they were younger (1 = a lot worse, 9 = a lot better). 1.2. Results 1.2.1. Personal nostalgia Consistent with prior research (Batcho, 1995; Batcho et al., 2008), the Nostalgia Inventory yielded an acceptable level of internal consistency of .86 as measured by Cronbach's alpha and a split-half reliability of .85. Of the 147 participants in the study, 117 had completed the first session early enough in the semester to return 4 weeks after their first session. Of those invited back, 74 (63%) returned. Attrition did not alter the proportion of men and women completing only the first or both sessions, χ2 (1, N = 147) = 2.48, p = .115. Participants who completed both sessions did not differ in average personal nostalgia scores (M = 6.18, SD = 1.22) from those who completed only the first session (M = 6.06, SD = 1.10), F(1, 145) = 0.42, p = .518, η2p = .003. Average anticipatory nostalgia scores also did not differ between those who returned for the second session (M = 5.62, SD = 1.33) and those who did not (M = 5.64, SD = 1.07), F(1, 145) = 0.02, p = .896, η2p = .001. Session 2 data were used to assess test–retest reliability. Session 1 data were used in all subsequent analyses. Consistent with prior research (Batcho et al., 2011), an acceptable level of four-week test– retest reliability was obtained for the Nostalgia Inventory, r(72) = .77, p b .001. As in previous studies (Batcho, 1995; Köneke, 2010; Routledge, Arndt, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2008), men (M = 6.28, SD = 0.95) and women (M = 6.01, SD = 1.27) did not differ in average personal nostalgia scores, F(1, 145) = 2.07, p = .152, η2p = .014. Proneness to personal nostalgia has been found to peak during adolescence with a sharp decline after 33 years of age. Not including data from two outliers (ages 34 and 47), personal nostalgia scores were not correlated with age, r(143) = −.04, p = .596. 1.2.2. Anticipatory nostalgia Comparable levels of reliability were obtained for the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (Appendix A). Internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's alpha was .87, split-half reliability measured .83, and four-week test–retest reliability was acceptable, r(72) = .71, p b .001. As expected, first session mean ratings on the Nostalgia Inventory correlated significantly with mean ratings on the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, r(145) = .52, p b .001. Similarly, mean ratings for the secondsession nostalgia surveys correlated significantly, r(72) = .66, p b .001. The moderate correlation is consistent with the hypothesis that anticipatory nostalgia is related to but distinguishable from personal nostalgia. As with personal nostalgia, men (M = 5.77, SD = 0.98) and women (M = 5.53, SD = 1.33) did not differ in average anticipatory nostalgia scores, F(1, 145) = 1.39, p = .24, η2p = .01, and anticipatory nostalgia did not correlate with age, r(143) = −.08, p = .36. 1.2.3. World view Consistent with prior research (Batcho, 1995, 1998), personal nostalgia correlated positively with ratings of the world as it was when the respondent was younger, r(145) = .38, p b .001, but did not correlate significantly with ratings of the world now, r(145) = −.06, p = .48, or in the future, r(145) = −.05, p = .54. Similarly, anticipatory nostalgia correlated positively with ratings of the world as it was

K.I. Batcho, S. Shikh / Personality and Individual Differences 98 (2016) 75–84

when the respondent was younger, r(145) = .22, p = .006, but did not correlate significantly with ratings of the world now, r(145) = −.11, p = .19, or in the future, r(145) = −.09, p = .29. The absence of a correlation between either type of nostalgia and a negative view of the future offers no evidence that either personal or anticipatory nostalgia is associated with pessimism. 2. Study 2 Prior research has shown that proneness to personal nostalgia is related to dispositional intensity of emotional experience, but not to measures of optimism, pessimism, or depression (Batcho, 1998). Nostalgia has been associated with greater social connectedness, social competence, and relationship satisfaction (Juhl et al., 2012). Study 2 examined the relationship of each type of nostalgia to dispositional tendencies to happiness, sadness, social assurance, need to belong and resilience. 2.1. Method 2.1.1. Participants As in Study 1, a stipend was offered to recruit students from across the college. A sample of 169 undergraduates, 88 women and 81 men, ranging in age from 18 to 33 years (Mdn = 20, SD = 2.00), completed the study. 2.1.2. Material and procedure Participants completed the Nostalgia Inventory, the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, items from Watson and Clark's (1994) Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Expanded Form (PANAS-X), and dispositional measures of social assurance, need to belong and resilience. The order of completion of the material was counterbalanced within constraints across participants. 2.1.3. Positive and negative affect To examine whether proneness to anticipatory nostalgia is characterized by positive or negative dispositional affect, nine items from the PANAS-X (cheerful, delighted, excited, happy, joyful, enthusiastic, sad, blue, and downhearted) were administered with the general instruction: “Indicate to what extent you have felt this way in general, that is, on the average.” 2.1.4. Nostalgia As in Study 1, proneness to personal nostalgia was assessed with the Nostalgia Inventory (Batcho, 2007), and proneness to anticipatory nostalgia was assessed with the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia. 2.1.5. Personality measures Two facets of social connectedness were assessed. Lee and Robbins' (1995) Social Assurance Scale (SAS) assessed the sense of assurance or confidence in social situations. While the items are written to reflect a need for reassurance from others to sustain a sense of belonging, the inverse direction of the rating scales yields a measure of social assurance. The Need to Belong Scale (NBS) assessed the desire for acceptance and belonging, distinct from the desire for social contact (Leary, Kelly, Cottrell, & Schreindorfer, 2013; Malone, Pillow, & Osman, 2012). Need to belong has been associated with having an identity that is defined in terms of social attributes, emotional reactions to rejection, propensity for hurt feelings, susceptibility to embarrassment, and valuing interpersonal relationships. The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was used to assess the ability to bounce back or recover from stress (Smith et al., 2008). Research has shown BRS scores to correlate positively with optimism, social support, active coping and positive reframing and negatively with pessimism, behavioral disengagement, denial, and self-blame.

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2.2. Results 2.2.1. Reliability Consistent with Study 1 and prior research (Batcho, 1995; Batcho et al., 2008), the Nostalgia Inventory yielded an acceptable level of internal consistency of .89 as measured by Cronbach's alpha and a Guttman split-half reliability coefficient of .86. Comparable levels of reliability were obtained for the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (Cronbach's alpha = .90; Guttman split-half reliability coefficient = .85). 2.2.2. Personality As in prior research and Study 1, gender differences were not significant for personal, F(1, 167) = 2.67, p = .104, η2p = .016, or anticipatory nostalgia, F(1, 167) = 0.23, p = .631, η2p = .001. As expected given the restricted age range in the sample, neither personal nostalgia, r(167) = .02, p = .814, nor anticipatory nostalgia, r(167) = −.08, p = .279, correlated with age. Consistent with Study 1, mean ratings on the Nostalgia Inventory correlated moderately with mean ratings on the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, r(167) = .61, p b .001. Controlled for gender and alternate type of nostalgia, personal and anticipatory nostalgia were distinguished by different correlations with the personality measures (Table 1). Anticipatory nostalgia correlated positively with the need to belong measured by the NBS, and inversely with social assurance as measured by the SAS, and resilience as measured by the BRS. Personal nostalgia did not correlate significantly with the need to belong, social assurance, or resilience. 2.2.3. Positive and negative affect Ratings of PANAS-X items of generalized affect yielded additional evidence for anticipatory nostalgia as a distinct construct. Ratings from the six items cheerful, delighted, excited, happy, joyful, and enthusiastic were averaged to yield a composite measure of a tendency toward happiness. Ratings from the three items sad, blue, and downhearted were averaged to serve as a measure of sadness. Controlled for anticipatory nostalgia and gender, partial correlations indicated that personal nostalgia correlated significantly with happiness, but not with sadness, whereas anticipatory nostalgia (controlled for personal nostalgia and gender) correlated significantly with sadness, but not with happiness (Table 1). The composite happiness ratings were explored as the dependent variable in a linear regression analysis, with mean ratings from the Nostalgia Inventory (centered), Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (centered), and gender (dummy coded) the independent variables. To explore the possible role of personality, centered averages for the personality variables (BRS, NBS, and SAS) were added in step two. In a significant model, F(6, 162) = 8.02, p b .001, Adjusted R2 = .200, the main effect of gender was not significant, β = −.016, SE = .109, t = −0.21, p = .836. The main effect of personal nostalgia was significant, β = .205, SE = .054, t = 2.10, p = .037, whereas the effect of anticipatory nostalgia was not, β = −.091, SE = .049, t = − 0.94, p = .35. With the addition of the personality scores, the effect of personal nostalgia remained significant, β = .267, SE = .049, t = 2.98, p =

Table 1 Correlations of personal and anticipatory nostalgia with personality and dispositional affect in Study 2.

Need to Belong Scale Social Assurance Scale Brief Resilience Scale PANAS-X happiness PANAS-X sadness

Personal nostalgia

Anticipatory nostalgia

r

p

r

p

.15 .04 −.07 .16 .09

.060 .572 .393 .037 .224

.22 −.22 −.28 −.07 .17

.004 .004 .001 .350 .026

Note. N = 169. df = 165. Controlled for gender and alternate type of nostalgia.

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.003, and gender and anticipatory nostalgia remained non-significant. NBS scores did not predict happiness, β = −.07, SE = .09, t = −0.82, p = .414, but significant effects were obtained for BRS, β = .492, SE = .075, t = 6.11, p b .001, and SAS, β = −.223, SE = .008, t = −2.77, p = .006. In a similar analysis, the composite sadness ratings were explored as the dependent variable in a linear regression analysis, with mean ratings from the Nostalgia Inventory (centered), Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (centered), and gender (dummy coded) the independent variables. Centered averages for personality variables (BRS, NBS, and SAS) were added in step two. In a significant model, F(6, 162) = 7.15, p b .001, Adjusted R2 = .18, the main effects of gender, β = −.009, SE = .131, t = − 0.12, p = .906, and personal nostalgia, β = .115, SE = .065, t = 1.22, p = .224, were not significant. Anticipatory nostalgia did predict sadness, β = .212, SE = .059, t = 2.25, p = .026. With the addition of the personality scores, the effects of gender and personal nostalgia remained non-significant, and anticipatory nostalgia became non-significant. Only the inverse effect of the BRS, β = −.383, SE = .094, t = −4.70, p b .001, was significant. 3. Study 3 Study 2 revealed an association between personal nostalgia and happiness and between anticipatory nostalgia and sadness. Research has demonstrated that personal nostalgia is related to enhanced social connectedness (Batcho, 2013; Wildschut et al., 2010; Zhou et al., 2008) and greater reliance on social–emotional coping (Batcho, 2013). Study 3 compared how anticipatory and personal nostalgia relate to the general impact of people and experiences on happiness, sadness, and worry. It is possible that the impact of anticipated nostalgia varies with the emotional valence of the present. Imagining a time when adversity will end might ameliorate negative emotions, whereas imaging the end of good times might detract from the enjoyment of the ongoing events. However, according to prior research, the Nostalgia Inventory assesses personal nostalgia as a dispositional trait. Prior research demonstrated that the relationship between personal nostalgia and ways of dealing with problems did not vary for two different hypothetical situations, one social and the other non-social (Batcho, 2013). If the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia also assesses anticipatory nostalgia as dispositional, the relationship between nostalgia proneness and reactions might not differ across situations. In the current study, the relationship of personal and anticipatory nostalgia to reactions was examined with two hypothetical social situations varying in emotional tone, one depicting a pleasant family event and the other the challenge of caring for an ill relative. Personal nostalgia has been associated with other-directed thinking, as well as a yearning for lost innocence and freedom from responsibility (Batcho, 1998, 2007; Wildschut et al., 2006, 2010; Zhou et al., 2008). The characteristics of anticipatory and personal nostalgia were explored further with an essay task. Participants were asked to take one of three time perspectives to engage personal nostalgia, anticipatory nostalgia, or a present-centered focus. Essays were examined to determine the extent to which the topical concerns of personal nostalgia are salient in anticipatory nostalgia.

an essay from one of three time perspectives. Participants completed the material in a counterbalanced order. 3.1.3. Nostalgia Proneness to personal nostalgia and to anticipatory nostalgia was assessed by the Nostalgia Inventory (Batcho, 2007) and the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, respectively. 3.1.4. Situational reactions Participants were instructed to imagine being in one of two different hypothetical situations and then estimate how they would react. Hypothetical scenarios have been used effectively in similar tasks in prior research (Batcho, 2013; Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986). As in prior research, participants worked at their own pace, with no time constraints. Half of the participants were instructed: “Imagine that you are enjoying dinner and conversation with family,” and half were asked to: “Imagine you are caring for a seriously ill relative who needs a special diet, medications, hygiene care, medical tests and doctor visits.” On a 9-point scale (1 = not at all, 9 = very much), participants estimated the extent to which they would experience each of six cognitive/emotional reactions (Appendix B). Reactions included emotions such as “feel sad,” and cognitions such as “remember similar times in the past.” 3.1.5. General affective impacts The general tendency of people, activities, and events to make the participant happy, sad and worried was assessed. Respondents rated the extent to which each of ten items makes them happy, sad, or worried on a 9-point scale (1 = not at all or almost never, 9 = very much or very often). Items included: family members, things you do, places where you live or visit, someone you love, responsibilities, friends, being part of a team, club, or group, entertainment or sports, people who need you, and holidays and special occasions. 3.1.6. Essay responses Open-ended questions were used to gain insight into the objects of anticipatory and personal nostalgia. As in similar research (Sedikides, Wildschut, Routledge, & Arndt, 2015), participants wrote their essays at their own pace, with no time limit. A third of the participants described what they anticipated missing in the future: “Think about your life: your relationships with family and friends, things you do for fun, responsibilities, where you live and places you go, etc. Think about how some or all of these might be different someday. What do you think you might miss about your current life sometime in the future?” A third described what they miss about childhood: “Think about your life as it was when you were a child: your relationships with family and friends, things you did for fun, having fewer or no responsibilities, where you lived and places you went, etc. Think about how different some or all of these are now. What do you miss about life when you were a child?” The third group evaluated their present: “Think about your life: your relationships with family and friends, things you do for fun, responsibilities, where you live and places you go, etc. Think about things you are satisfied with and things you might want to improve. What are you most satisfied with and what do you wish you could improve?” 3.2. Results

3.1. Method 3.1.1. Participants A sample of 123 undergraduates, 64 women and 59 men, ranging in age from 18 to 34 years (Mdn = 20, SD = 2.23), completed the study. 3.1.2. Material and procedure Participants completed the Nostalgia Inventory and the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, estimated reactions to a hypothetical scenario, rated their tendency to be made happy, sad and worried, and wrote

3.2.1. Situational reactions The relationships between each type of nostalgia and reactions in the family and illness contexts were explored in linear regression analyses. Mean ratings of each reaction were examined as dependent variables in separate linear regression analyses, with mean ratings from the Nostalgia Inventory (centered), Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (centered), gender (dummy coded), and context (dummy coded) the independent variables. Context by personal nostalgia and context by anticipatory nostalgia interactions were added in step two.

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Significant models were obtained for all six ratings of situational reactions (Table 2). Main effects of context were significant for all reactions except distancing, confirming that the hypothetical scenarios elicited different reactions as intended. Context effects suggested that adverse times encouraged imagining the present from a future vantage point. Participants were more likely to think about when the times would no longer be possible when caring for an ill relative than when enjoying time with family. Taking the future perspective was accompanied by greater engagement when caring for an ill relative, but also by greater likelihood of being sad and finding it hard to enjoy the present. By contrast, participants were more likely to remember similar times in the past when having a pleasant time with family. Personal and anticipatory nostalgia did not interact with context, suggesting that the nostalgia constructs were assessed as dispositional traits (Table 3). Across contexts, personal and anticipatory nostalgia were characterized by different patterns of reactions. As expected, personal nostalgia was related to remembering the past, whereas anticipatory nostalgia was aligned with thinking of the future. Personal nostalgia was related to sadness and to the positive reaction of being fully engaged, whereas anticipatory nostalgia was associated with distancing to avoid future hurt and finding it difficult to enjoy the present. 3.2.2. General affective impacts The ten items for each of the general impacts of people, activities, and events yielded internally consistent ratings, with Cronbach alpha of .76 for happy, .80 for sad, and .80 for worry. Therefore, the extent of each of the three impacts—make you happy, make you sad, and make you worry—was averaged over the ten items. The relationship of personal and anticipatory nostalgia to mean ratings of the general impact of people, activities, and events on happiness, sadness, and worry was explored in separate regression analyses. Each mean impact was entered as the dependent variable in a separate linear regression analysis, with mean ratings from the Nostalgia Inventory (centered), Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (centered), and gender (dummy coded) the independent variables. The analysis of mean ratings of make you happy did not yield a significant model, F(3, 119) = 2.06, p = .109, Adjusted R2 = .03. A significant model did emerge from the analysis of mean ratings of make you sad, F(3, 119) = 8.61, p b .001, Adjusted R2 = .16. Anticipatory nostalgia significantly predicted make you sad, β = .43, SE = .10, t = 3.39, p b .001, and personal nostalgia did not, β = −.03, SE = .11, t = −0.19, p = .848. Analysis of mean ratings of make you worry also yielded a significant model, F(3, 119) = 5.49, p b .001, Adjusted R2 = .10. Again, anticipatory nostalgia was a significant predictor, β = .35, SE = .12, t = 2.68, p = .009, and personal nostalgia was not, β = −.02, SE = .13, t = −0.12, p = .907. 3.2.3. Essays: objects of nostalgic sentiment Two research assistants, one male and one female, evaluated the topical content of each essay. Working independently, the judges recorded what the author had written about in each essay (e.g., playing Table 2 Summary of regression analyses on situational reactions with personal and anticipatory nostalgia as predictors in Study 3. Step 1a 2

Reaction

R

Thinking about the past Feeling sad Being fully engaged Thinking about the future Hard to enjoy the present Distancing oneself

.13 .31 .27 .25 .20 .07

Note. R2 values are Adjusted R2s. a df = 4, 118. b df = 6, 116.

Step 2b F

p

R2

F

p

5.45 14.96 12.22 10.88 8.66 3.30

.001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .013

.13 .34 .26 .25 .20 .07

3.96 11.26 8.13 7.78 6.12 2.41

.001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .031

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video games and a friendship). Each judge then classified the topics into categories (e.g., activities and relationships), generating two independent lists of topical categories identified in the essays. Six categories were common to the two lists: relationships, self, responsibilities versus being carefree, lifestyle, activities, and places. Very few topics were not common to both lists (e.g., jobs). The presence of each topic in the three instruction conditions was analyzed in six separate 2 (present/absent) × 3 (childhood, anticipatory, and present) chi-square analyses (Table 4). The salience of three topics did not vary across instruction condition: relationships, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 1.90, p = .39; places, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 3.41, p = .18; and activities, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 0.85, p = .65. Three topics varied significantly across instructions: responsibility, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 25.88, p b .001; focus on self, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 39.02, p b .001; and lifestyle, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 9.35, p = .009. Mean number of words did not vary across the three instructions, F(2, 119) = 0.19, p = .82. Therefore, topical differences across instructions were not attributable to variations in length. In general, participants anticipated missing aspects of life similar to those missed from childhood. Across instructions, relationships constituted the most prominent topic. Participants anticipated missing relationships to the same extent as missing them from childhood, χ2 (1, N = 82) = 1.77, p = .18. In describing how they missed childhood family and friends, many participants explained how the nature of their relationships had changed. The essays made clear that developmental shifts and changes in life circumstances had affected their relationships. As siblings matured, for example, they acquired new relationships that affected the depth of their childhood bonds. Events such as divorce, illness, or injury also transformed relationships. Just as childhood and adult relationships differed, anticipated loss included a sense that relationships would change even when people remained in their lives. Participants recognized that in the future new circumstances would transform the nature of their relationships. For example, relocation would bring physical distance that would challenge intimacy, and respondents expected that many relationships would gradually lose the value of regular face-to-face interactions. Participants referenced relationships also in evaluating their present. However, in the absence of nostalgic longing, participants were less focused on others and more critical. Relationships highlighted aspects of the participant's own worth or role with respect to others. Significantly more attention to the self was evident in reflections on the present than in the nostalgic essays, where self-reference was rare. Another prominent theme that distinguished the nostalgic from the present-focused essays was the freedom from responsibilities that characterized childhood, χ2 (2, N = 123) = 25.88, p b .001. Nostalgic essays described emotional and cognitive dimensions of childhood freedom from obligations. Respondents described the feeling of being carefree, without worries, pressure, demands, or deadlines. Identified as the essence of childhood, innocence was integral to feeling free from the need to worry about social comparison or judgment on superficial grounds such as social status or competition. Innocence was also described as the absence of knowing about emotionally painful aspects of life in general and in their own personal lives. Such innocence was closely aligned with a Peter Pan type of idealism that allowed for imagination, dreaming, and hope not bound by realistic appraisal. Having already lost the innocence of childhood, participants predicted future nostalgia for lost young adulthood. Participants expected to have greater responsibility that would afford less leisure time, inhibit spontaneity, and increase pressure, worry, and anxiety. Some respondents anticipated missing youthful energy, enthusiasm and the excitement that accompanies the optimistic promise of an unknown future. One noteworthy difference between childhood and anticipated nostalgia was the perspective on lifestyle. Participants were more likely to anticipate missing their current than their childhood lifestyle. Although they missed the best aspects of childhood, participants did not want to be children again. Looking back at childhood from the vantage point of

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Table 3 Summary of regression analyses on situational reactions in Study 3. Reaction Thinking about the past Step 1 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Step 2 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Context × personal nostalgia Context × anticipatory nostalgia Feeling sad Step 1 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Step 2 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Context × personal nostalgia Context × anticipatory nostalgia Being fully engaged Step 1 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Step 2 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Context × personal nostalgia Context × anticipatory nostalgia Thinking about the future Step 1 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Step 2 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Context × personal nostalgia Context × anticipatory nostalgia Hard to enjoy the present Step 1 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Step 2 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Context × personal nostalgia Context × anticipatory nostalgia Distancing oneself Step 1 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia

SE

β

t

p

−.18 1.22 .59 −.25

.41 .41 .22 .19

−.04 .26 .36 −.17

−0.44 3.00 2.75 −1.34

.659 .003 .007 .184

−.22 1.23 .61 −.45 −.07 .39

.41 .41 .31 .26 .43 .38

−.05 .26 .37 −.31 −.03 .20

−0.54 3.01 2.01 −1.70 −0.17 1.05

.594 .003 .047 .092 .866 .298

−.58 −2.39 .46 .24

.40 .40 .21 .18

−.11 −.47 .25 .15

−1.44 −6.02 2.17 1.29

.152 .001 .032 .199

−.68 −2.39 .21 .12 .44 .22

.40 .39 .29 .25 .41 .36

−.13 −.46 .12 .08 .18 .10

−1.72 −6.11 0.72 0.50 1.07 0.61

.089 .001 .471 .621 .287 .546

−.41 −2.02 .69 −.25

.35 .35 .18 .16

−.09 −.46 .45 −.18

−1.17 −5.82 3.75 −1.54

.245 .001 .001 .126

−.44 −2.02 .58 −.04 .21 −.04

.35 .35 .26 .32 .37 .32

−.10 −.46 .38 −.02 .10 −.02

−1.24 −5.78 2.24 −0.13 0.56 −0.13

.219 .001 .027 .900 .580 .900

−.45 −2.19 .05 .47

.42 .42 .22 .19

−.09 −.42 .03 .30

−1.07 −5.26 0.22 2.44

.288 .001 .829 .016

−.52 −2.19 −.10 .36 .26 .22

.42 .41 .31 .27 .44 .38

−.10 −.42 −.06 .23 .11 .10

−1.24 −5.27 −0.33 1.34 0.60 0.58

.218 .001 .741 .182 .550 .565

−.25 −1.62 −.04 .32

.33 .32 .17 .15

−.06 −.41 −.03 .27

−0.78 −5.03 −0.23 2.13

.438 .001 .817 .036

−.20 −1.63 .16 .28 −.38 .08

.33 .32 .24 .21 .34 .30

−.05 −.41 .12 .24 −.21 .05

−0.61 −5.03 0.66 1.35 −1.13 0.27

.544 .001 .509 .179 .263 .787

.19 −.66 −.04 .39

.38 .38 .20 .18

.04 −.15 −.02 .30

0.50 −1.73 −0.17 2.23

.619 .086 .864 .028

B

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Table 3 (continued) Reaction

B

Distancing oneself Step 2 Gender Context Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia Context × personal nostalgia Context × anticipatory nostalgia

.16 −.66 −.02 .25 −.05 .30

SE

β

t

p

.39 .38 .29 .25 .40 .35

.04 −.15 −.02 .19 −.02 .17

0.41 −1.72 −0.08 1.00 −0.12 0.85

.680 .088 .933 .320 .904 .396

Note. N = 123.

adulthood is not the same as looking ahead to the future from the perspective of adulthood. Envisioning an uncertain future that will impose greater demands, participants were ambivalent about moving on to a new stage in life.

4. Study 4 Study 3 yielded further support for the distinction between anticipatory and personal nostalgia. Personal and anticipatory nostalgia were characterized by different patterns of reactions to hypothetical situations. The absence of contextual differences suggested that the nostalgia constructs were assessed as dispositional traits. Both hypothetical scenarios depicted social situations. Substantial research supports the association between personal nostalgia and social connectedness (Juhl et al., 2012; Wildschut et al., 2006, 2010; Zhou et al., 2008). Study 4 addressed whether the differences between personal and anticipatory represent general dispositional emotional reactions toward time or more limited responses to social events. Would anticipatory and personal nostalgia differ also in non-social tasks? Study 4 extended the current findings to a solitary task rating photographs of clouds on several dimensions. The photographs allowed for subjective reactions by viewers in a task with unbiased instructions to examine the extent to which individuals prone to personal or anticipatory nostalgia differ in their tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli in positive or negative ways. Viewing clouds was chosen as a simple activity similar to a solitary experience often enjoyed in childhood. Previous research has shown an association between personal nostalgia and positive impressions of childhood (Batcho et al., 2011). Study 4 also explored the relationship between each type of nostalgia and impressions of childhood.

4.1.2. Material and procedure Participants completed the Nostalgia Inventory, the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, and the Childhood Survey, and rated each of six photographs on five characteristics. Following the photograph task, participants completed the surveys in a counterbalanced order. 4.1.3. Childhood survey The perceived quality of childhood was assessed with the Childhood Survey, a retrospective survey of a range of favorable and unfavorable experiences (Batcho et al., 2011). A set of 32 items describe 16 favorable and 16 unfavorable behaviors experienced by the respondent as a child. Favorable items include eight social events such as parties or family traditions and eight solitary experiences such as playing alone or engaging in creative activities. Sixteen unfavorable items include eight social experiences such as being rejected or bullied and eight solitary experiences such as self-abuse or academic difficulty. Respondents rate the frequency or extent of each aspect on a 5-point scale (1 = never, 5 = daily or greatly). A second set of 16 items with clear emotional phrasing includes eight items denoting positive experiences such as feeling loved by parents and eight items describing negative experiences such as being afraid of someone. Half of the positive and negative experiences are solitary and half reflect a social context. Affective items are rated on a 9-point scale (1 = rarely or not very much, 9 = very often or very much). Each of the Childhood Survey scales is reported to have acceptable internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .65 for the positive behavioral items, .75 for the negative behavioral items, .70 for the positive affective items, and .85 for the negative affective items. Test–retest reliability over a four-week interval has been reported as .84 for the positive behavioral score, .86 for the negative behavioral, .73 for the positive affective, and .80 for the negative affective score (Batcho et al., 2011).

4.1. Method 4.1.1. Participants A sample of 117 undergraduates, 68 women and 49 men, ranging in age from 18 to 27 years (Mdn = 20, SD = 1.54), completed the study.

4.1.4. Photograph task On a 9-point scale (1 = not at all, 9 = very much), participants rated each of six photographs of clouds. Participants judged the extent to which the photo would be likely to: make people feel happy; suggest

Table 4 Percent of essays expressing topics by instruction condition in Study 3. Topic Instruction Anticipatory Childhoodb Presentc

a

Relationship

Self⁎⁎⁎

Responsibility⁎⁎⁎

Lifestyle⁎⁎

Places

Activities

73.8 60.0 63.4

4.8 5.0 53.7

38.1 57.5 4.9

21.4 5.0 31.7

21.4 25.0 9.8

19.0 25.0 17.1

Note. Essays were analyzed for the presence of each topic, as agreed upon by two independent judges, in each of the three instruction conditions in separate 2 (present/absent) × 3 (anticipatory, childhood, the present) chi-square analyses for each topic. ⁎⁎ p b .01. ⁎⁎⁎ p b .001. a n = 42. b n = 40. c n = 41.

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that a storm is coming; make people feel sad; remind the participant of childhood; and remind the participant of the importance of weather science. 4.2. Results 4.2.1. Reliability Consistent with prior results, the Nostalgia Inventory yielded an acceptable level of internal consistency of .89 as measured by Cronbach's alpha and a Guttman split-half coefficient of .86. Comparable levels of reliability were obtained for the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia with Cronbach's alpha = .89 and Guttman split-half reliability coefficient = .86. Mean ratings on the Nostalgia Inventory were significantly correlated with mean ratings on the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia, r(115) = .61, p b .001. 4.2.2. Nostalgia Mean Nostalgia Inventory and Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia scores were examined as dependent variables in separate linear regression analyses, with gender (dummy coded) and mean scores from the eight Childhood Survey (positive behavioral social, positive behavioral solitary, negative behavioral social, negative behavioral solitary, positive affective social, positive affective solitary, negative affective social, and negative affective solitary) the independent variables. Personal and anticipatory nostalgia were associated with different aspects of childhood. Whereas personal nostalgia was predicted by favorable social emotional childhood experiences, anticipatory nostalgia was predicted by unfavorable solitary emotional childhood experiences. The analysis of Nostalgia Inventory scores yielded a significant model, F(9, 107) = 3.34, p b .001, Adjusted R2 = .153. The main effect of gender, β = .072, SE = .254, t = 0.73, p = .467, was not significant. Personal nostalgia was predicted by favorable social emotional childhood experiences, β = .393, SE = .13, t = 3.03, p = .003. By contrast, the Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia scores yielded a significant model, F(9, 107) = 3.30, p = .001, Adjusted R2 = .152, that revealed a significant association between anticipatory nostalgia and unfavorable solitary emotional experiences, β = .242, SE = .084, t = 2.07, p = .04. 4.2.3. Photograph ratings Each of the five ratings was averaged over the six photographs. Average ratings were analyzed as dependent variables in separate linear regression analyses with mean ratings from the Nostalgia Inventory (centered), Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia (centered), and gender (dummy coded), the independent variables. Significant models emerged from the analysis of each of the ratings of the photographs (Table 5). Personal nostalgia predicted the likelihood of the photographs making people happy and reminding people of childhood (Table 6). Anticipatory nostalgia predicted the likelihood of the photographs making people sad, suggesting that a storm was approaching, and suggesting the importance of weather science. The likelihood of a storm and the importance of weather science both reflect a focus on the future. However, the importance of weather science does not entail the inherent connotation of an adverse event. The relationship of anticipatory, but not personal, nostalgia to both ratings is consistent Table 5 Summary of regression analyses on ratings of photographs with personal and anticipatory nostalgia as predictors in Study 4. Rating

R2

F

p

Make people feel happy Remind people of childhood Make people sad Suggest a storm is coming Importance of weather science

.09 .06 .04 .08 .07

4.99 3.49 2.73 4.17 3.93

.003 .018 .047 .008 .010

Note. N = 117. R2 values are Adjusted R2s. df = 3, 113.

Table 6 Summary of regression analyses on ratings of photographs in Study 4. Rating

B

SE

β

t

p

Make people feel happy Gender Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia

−.09 .29 .01

.20 .10 .10

−.04 .33 .01

−0.45 2.97 0.06

.657 .004 .952

Remind people of childhood Gender Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia

.25 .29 .13

.31 .15 .15

.08 .22 .10

0.82 1.95 0.85

.414 .050 .397

Make people sad Gender Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia

.36 .02 .19

.18 .09 .09

.18 −.03 .23

1.98 −0.24 2.00

.050 .814 .048

Suggests a storm is coming Gender Personal nostalgia Anticipatory nostalgia

.30 .08 .18

.18 .09 .09

.15 .11 .22

1.70 0.95 1.96

.092 .342 .051

Importance of weather science Gender −.15 Personal nostalgia −.02 Anticipatory nostalgia .52

.37 .18 .19

−.04 −.02 .31

−0.40 −0.13 2.72

.693 .894 .008

Note. N = 117.

with the finding of a greater focus on the future among participants predisposed to anticipatory nostalgia. 5. General discussion The present findings indicated that anticipatory nostalgia merits research as a distinct form of nostalgia and supported the viability of the new survey as a means of assessing anticipatory nostalgia. Based on data from four samples, the survey is internally consistent, and test–retest reliability suggested that the survey evaluates anticipatory nostalgia as a dispositional trait. The moderate correlation of anticipatory with personal nostalgia is consistent with the assumption that anticipatory nostalgia is related, but not identical, to personal nostalgia. The present findings revealed important differences between personal and anticipatory nostalgia. Overall, the results suggest that personal nostalgia promotes positive emotions and social connections, but when experienced prematurely, it can preempt those benefits and interfere with the quality of present experiences. Distinguished by personality correlates, anticipatory, but not personal, nostalgia correlated positively with the need to belong and inversely with social assurance and resilience. It remains for future research to determine whether proneness to anticipatory nostalgia can inhibit feelings of belonging and social assurance by mentally distancing a person from the present, or whether lack of social assurance or belonging encourages distancing and anticipating the future. Anticipatory nostalgia was associated with a generalized tendency toward sadness, whereas personal nostalgia predicted a tendency toward happiness. Personality variables did not explain the relationships between personal nostalgia and happiness and between anticipatory nostalgia and sadness. The absence of a correlation between anticipatory nostalgia and negative views of the present or future provided no evidence that anticipatory nostalgia reflects depression or pessimism. Current results suggest that anticipatory nostalgia reflects neither dissatisfaction with the present nor a gloomy view of the future, but a reluctance to let go of the present. However, further research is needed to explore any possible relationship between anticipatory nostalgia and dispositional measures of pessimism such as The Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974) or the Life Orientation Test—Revised (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994). Paradoxically, the desire to hold on to the present might jeopardize full engagement in it. The current findings suggested that envisioning

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what the future might bring is accompanied by the sadness of missing the present and worry about what will come next. Participants prone to anticipatory nostalgia reported a greater general tendency for people and experiences to cause them worry and sadness. Consistent with the alignment of personal nostalgia with happiness and anticipatory with sadness, personal nostalgia was predicted by favorable social emotional childhood experiences, whereas anticipatory nostalgia was predicted by unfavorable solitary emotional childhood experiences. Reflective essays elucidated what is missed in personal nostalgia and what is expected to be missed in anticipatory nostalgia. Although participants expected to miss many of the same things that they missed about childhood, the content of loss realized was richer in detail than loss anticipated. Loss of innocence, idealism and imagination was a major theme in the essays expressing nostalgia for childhood. The loss of carefree freedom from obligations and responsibilities was important in both childhood and anticipatory nostalgia essays. Missed was the childhood freedom not only from pragmatic concerns, but also from the cognitive-emotional burdens of anxiety and worry associated with accountability. Participants predicted further loss of such freedom already suffered in advancing from childhood to young adulthood. Both types of nostalgia were characterized by a greater salience of others relative to one's self. Participants rarely focused on themselves in nostalgic reverie, whereas, thinking about the present was more self-indulgent. Anticipatory essays expressed a greater expectation of missing their current lifestyle than did the essays describing nostalgia for their childhood. Although they missed the best aspects of childhood, the participants did not want to be children again. They didn't want to return to their past; they wanted the best of their past to return to them. Imagining the future, participants were ambivalent about moving on to a new stage in life. Looking back at childhood is not the same as envisioning a future with new demands and circumstances. In general, people were more likely to imagine the present as no longer possible when faced with an adverse than a pleasant situation, perhaps in an effort to experience benefits of nostalgia. However, people prone to anticipatory nostalgia reacted differently than did those prone to personal nostalgia in both pleasant and challenging situations. Those prone to personal nostalgia experienced greater engagement in current events. By contrast, those prone to anticipatory nostalgia found it harder to enjoy the present and experienced distancing to avoid hurt when it ends. By diminishing involvement in the present, perhaps defensive distancing can threaten the quality of social interactions. It remains for future research to explore whether emotional distancing ameliorates pain at the price of feeling more alone or lonely. Similar differences between personal and anticipatory nostalgia in the neutral solitary task of rating photographs suggest that proneness to each type of nostalgia reflects a general dispositional trait. It remains for future research to identify mechanisms responsible for the association between anticipatory nostalgia and less favorable characteristics than those associated with personal nostalgia. In adverse times, perhaps remembering when difficulties have been overcome can be a source of consolation. Future research is needed to determine if anticipatory nostalgia can be constructive under certain circumstances or applied therapeutically to remind people that time and the opportunity to be engaged is fleeting. Recounting everyday frustrations, Trace Adkins sang: “You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast. So take a good look around. You may not know it now but you're gonna miss this” (Gorley & Miller, 2007). Similarly, caring for a new baby inspired Darius Rucker: “It won't be like this for long. One day we'll look back laughin' at the week we brought her home” (DuBois, Gorley, & Rucker, 2008). However, the current findings suggest that looking ahead brings the sad realization that the good of the present also will be gone. Rucker concluded: “it breaks his heart cause he already knows it won't be like this for long. One day soon that little girl is gonna be all grown up and gone.” Applied appropriately, perhaps anticipatory nostalgia can promote adaptive coping. Future research is needed to determine whether

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wistfully anticipating the end of the present could encourage cognitive reappraisal (Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014). Anticipatory nostalgia led songwriter Chapman (2007) to a change of heart when he was feeling stressed by his daughter wanting to dance at bedtime: “So I will dance with Cinderella. I don't want to miss even one song, ‘cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight and she'll be gone.” Appendix A. Survey of anticipatory nostalgia Someone you love will leave someday A season (e.g., summer, fall) will end A television or movie series will end There won't always be someone to depend on A group or team experience will end (e.g., camp, playing on a sports team) You'll lose a pet (e.g., the pet will die, having to give it away) Music styles and artists will change You'll move to a new city, home or apartment Someone you love will die someday A program or school will end (e.g., graduation) A friendship, romance, or professional relationship will end Society will change An object will lose its usefulness (e.g., outgrown clothes, car, obsolete technology) A job or internship will end A carefree time period of few responsibilities will end A special experience will end (e.g., training for a competition, planning a wedding) Someone won't be young forever (e.g., baby, puppy, younger sibling) Times with family or friends won't last forever Life will become more complicated You might not always have great friends Appendix B. Reactions to hypothetical situations in Study 3 Participants rated the extent to which they would experience each reaction in the hypothetical situations. Remember similar times in the past Find it hard to enjoy the good aspects because it'll end someday Feel sad knowing you'll miss this someday Be more fully engaged knowing these times won't last forever Distance yourself to avoid how much it'll hurt when it ends Think about someday when these times are no longer possible References Abeyta, A. A., Routledge, C., Roylance, C., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, C. (2014). Attachmentrelated avoidance and the social and agentic content of nostalgic memories. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0265407514533770. Barnes, S., Brown, K. W., Krusemark, E., Campbell, W. K., & Rogge, R. D. (2007). The role of mindfulness in romantic relationship satisfaction and responses to relationship stress. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33, 482–500. Barrett, F. S., Grimm, K. J., Robins, R. W., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., & Janata, P. (2010). Music-evoked nostalgia: Affect, memory, and personality. Emotion, 10, 390–403. Batcho, K. I. (1995). Nostalgia: A psychological perspective. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 80, 131–143. Batcho, K. I. (1998). Personal nostalgia, world view, memory, and emotionality. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 87, 411–432. Batcho, K. I. (2007). Nostalgia and the emotional tone and content of song lyrics. The American Journal of Psychology, 120, 361–381. Batcho, K. I. (2013). Nostalgia: Retreat or support in difficult times? The American Journal of Psychology, 126, 355–367. Batcho, K. I., DaRin, M. L., Nave, A. M., & Yaworsky, R. R. (2008). Nostalgia and identity in song lyrics. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2, 236–244. Batcho, K. I., Nave, A. M., & DaRin, M. L. (2011). A retrospective survey of childhood experiences. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 531–545. Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L. (1974). The measurement of pessimism: The hopelessness scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 861–865. Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, P. (1980). Reminiscence and nostalgia: The pleasure and pain of remembering. In S. I. Greenspan, & G. H. Pollack (Eds.), The course of life: Psychoanalytic

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