Memorial distortions and homesickness following relocation

Abstract

These studies compared homesick and control subject's ratings of their affective reaction to public events and autobiographical events. Homesick individuals often report persistent rumination about pleasant experiences from their home (pre-transition) environment. It is, however, unclear whether such experiences were in fact originally experienced as pleasant or whether homesickness results in a distortion of the affective nature of pre-transition experiences. Study 1 asked homesick and control subjects to rate their affective reaction to public events that occurred before and after they had relocated to attend university. Homesick subjects rated the events from before transition as having been less unpleasant compared to the ratings from the control subjects. Furthermore, events that occurred after transition to university were found to be rated as more unpleasant by the homesick subjects when compared with control subjects' ratings. Study 2 partially replicated the results obtained in Study 1. Study 3 employed a repeated measures design in which autobiographical events were recorded and rated for affect on two occasions by homesick and control subjects. Results were in general accord with those from Studies 1 and 2, and homesickness was analysed with respect to depression, anxiety, and stress. The results are discussed in terms of the affective and memorial aspects of homesickness.