Relationship Between Nostalgia Proneness, Generativity, and Ego Integrity

Abstract

This study examined the effect of nostalgia proneness on the level of achievement of developmental tasks during the later stages of adulthood (generativity and ego integrity) and the indirect effect of nostalgia on ego integrity. The level of nostalgia proneness changes with age and contributes to subjective well-being in old age. We assumed that nostalgia proneness affects generativity and ego integrity. To confirm the causal relationship between nostalgia proneness and achievement of developmental tasks, a longitudinal study was conducted. We conducted an Internet survey twice with 600 Japanese adults (aged 20-87). The first and second surveys (T1 and T2) were conducted in March 2021 and March 2022, respectively. The questionnaire comprised the Inventory of Psychosocial Balance scale, positive/negative nostalgia proneness scale, and state functions of the nostalgia scale. An autoregressive path model indicated that high and low levels of positive and negative proneness, respectively, predicted ego integrity. The results of the mediation analysis suggested that social connections have an indirect effect on ego integrity and that people who tend to feel positive emotions are less likely to feel negative emotions when they remember nostalgic memories, which leads to a sense of social connection and the acquisition of ego integrity. The findings provide an understanding of the processes through which developmental tasks are facilitated in later adulthood and elucidate the efficacy of psychosocial interventions in older adults.