Nostalgia in the Gaza Strip: psychological costs and benefits of nostalgia among Palestinian youth
Nostalgia in the Gaza Strip: psychological costs and benefits of nostalgia among Palestinian youth
Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for one’s past, confers important psychological benefits: positive affect, social connectedness, meaning in life, self-continuity, self-esteem, optimism, and inspiration. Is nostalgia equally beneficial in populations that have experienced a difficult upbringing? We explored boundaries of nostalgia’s psychological benefits in an experiment among Gaza Strip youth (N = 416). We hypothesized additionally that resilience would catalyze the impact of nostalgia, with high-resilience participants benefiting more than low-resilience ones. Nostalgia only augmented social connectedness. As hypothesized, however, resilience emerged as a moderator. Whereas nostalgia increased positive affect and social connectedness among high-resilience individuals, it reduced positive affect, meaning in life, self-esteem, and inspiration among low-resilience ones. Social environmental hardship plausibly limits the reach of nostalgia’s benefits.
Abu-Rayya, Hisham M.
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Abumuhaisen, Yasmeen
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Wildschut, Tim
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Sedikides, Constantine
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Abu-Rayya, Hisham M.
b462a012-2f47-45b3-8465-5f864b0de2ad
Abumuhaisen, Yasmeen
380c7f8f-46c2-4288-ad83-c43f7e9c1359
Wildschut, Tim
4452a61d-1649-4c4a-bb1d-154ec446ff81
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Abu-Rayya, Hisham M., Abumuhaisen, Yasmeen, Wildschut, Tim and Sedikides, Constantine
(2025)
Nostalgia in the Gaza Strip: psychological costs and benefits of nostalgia among Palestinian youth.
British Journal of Social Psychology.
(In Press)
Abstract
Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for one’s past, confers important psychological benefits: positive affect, social connectedness, meaning in life, self-continuity, self-esteem, optimism, and inspiration. Is nostalgia equally beneficial in populations that have experienced a difficult upbringing? We explored boundaries of nostalgia’s psychological benefits in an experiment among Gaza Strip youth (N = 416). We hypothesized additionally that resilience would catalyze the impact of nostalgia, with high-resilience participants benefiting more than low-resilience ones. Nostalgia only augmented social connectedness. As hypothesized, however, resilience emerged as a moderator. Whereas nostalgia increased positive affect and social connectedness among high-resilience individuals, it reduced positive affect, meaning in life, self-esteem, and inspiration among low-resilience ones. Social environmental hardship plausibly limits the reach of nostalgia’s benefits.
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Abu-Rayya et al., in press, BJSP
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Accepted/In Press date: 14 January 2025
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Local EPrints ID: 498172
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498172
ISSN: 0144-6665
PURE UUID: 95c0b167-1189-4e36-b234-8367cb8a1c81
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Date deposited: 11 Feb 2025 18:02
Last modified: 12 Feb 2025 02:38
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Author:
Hisham M. Abu-Rayya
Author:
Yasmeen Abumuhaisen
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