Effects of nostalgia on time attitudes: Authenticity as a mediator

Abstract

Published research has suggested that time perspective plays an essential role in adolescence, and especially that a future time perspective has a strong relation to identity formation and well-being. However, factors that may predict time perspective have not been extensively investigated. Therefore, the present study focused on nostalgia as a factor affecting the formation of time perspective, especially future time perspective. The study examined differences between a nostalgic condition, in which participants were asked to recall a nostalgic memory, and a control condition, in which participants were asked to recall an ordinary memory from their daily life, in relation to the degree of time perspective. The participants, college students (N=44), were assigned randomly to the nostalgic or the control condition. The results indicated that the students in the nostalgic condition had more positive and fewer negative attitudes regarding the future than the students in the control condition did. Furthermore, authenticity mediated the relation between nostalgia and the participants' positive or negative attitudes about the future. Limitations of the study are discussed from the viewpoint of the research design and sub-constructs of time perspective.