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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.
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