Experiencing feelings of nostalgia increases lonely individuals’ sense of meaning in life, according to new research published in the journal Emotion.
“I was interested in this topic because of research that loneliness is being experienced chronically at very high levels and research that loneliness is a significant risk factor for poor mental and physical health,” said study author Andrew A. Abeyta, an assistant professor of psychology at Rutgers University-Camden.
“The interesting thing about loneliness it that overcoming it is not just about social interaction, it is also about overcoming negative thoughts and action tendencies. One of these negative thoughts we thought that likely reinforces loneliness is the thought that ‘My life has no purpose/meaning,’ especially since social roles/relationships are a robust source of meaning in life. We have found separately that nostalgia combats loneliness and promotes meaning in life, and this research was about putting the pieces together.”
To confirm previous findings, the researchers first conducted a correlational study with 210 undergraduate students. The participants completed assessments of loneliness and meaning in life, as well as reported how nostalgic they currently felt about 20 aspects of the past.
Abeyta and his colleagues found that loneliness was negatively related to meaning in life, while nostalgia was positively related to meaning in life. Importantly, they also found evidence that the negative relationship between loneliness and meaning was weaker among those feeling greater nostalgia, suggesting that nostalgia can help buffer against the impact of loneliness.
To better understand whether the observed relationship was causal in nature, the researchers conducted a second study with 229 undergraduate students in which they experimentally induced nostalgia among some participants. The participants were randomly assigned to either write about a nostalgic autobiographical memory or an ordinary autobiographical memory (the control condition).
The researchers found causal evidence for their hypothesis. Among participants high in loneliness, those in the nostalgia condition tended to report greater meaning in life compared to those in the control condition.
“The average person should take away that nostalgic reflection can support meaning even in times, like when feeling lonely, when life feels aimless/hopeless,” Abeyta told PsyPost. “However, we don’t wish to suggest that nostalgia is a standalone solution. Rather we think nostalgia’s true power resides in inspiring more lasting meaning making efforts. In other words, nostalgia provides the spark of meaning or reminder or meaning that hopefully encourages lonely people to go out and create more lasting sources of meaning.”
But the study, like all research, includes some caveats. “The major caveat I think that need to be addressed is how lasting the effect is,” Abeyta said. “We measured meaning in life only once after the nostalgia induction task and so we are not sure how lasting the boost to meaning is.”
The study, “Nostalgia Restores Meaning in Life for Lonely People“, was authored by Andrew A. Abeyta and Jacob Juhl.