Anticipatory nostalgia: Missing the present before it's gone

Four studies explored anticipatory nostalgia-missing aspects of the present before they are lost in the future-and its relationship to personal nostalgia. In Study 1, 147 undergraduates completed the new Survey of Anticipatory Nostalgia and the Nostalgia Inventory, an established measure of personal nostalgia-longing for one's remembered past. Study 2 examined the relationship of each type of nostalgia to tendencies to happiness and sadness and to dispositional measures of social assurance, need to belong and resilience. In Study 3, 123 undergraduates reacted to hypothetical situations, judged the general tendency of people and events to make them happy, sad, or worried, and wrote an essay from one of three time perspectives. Study 4 extended these findings to a solitary neutral task rating photographs and examined the relationship between nostalgia and childhood happiness. The new survey demonstrated acceptable internal and test-retest reliability and a moderate correlation with personal nostalgia. Personal nostalgia was related to remembering the past, favorable affect and reactions, whereas anticipatory nostalgia was aligned with thinking of the future, emotional distancing, difficulty enjoying the present, and a greater tendency to sadness and worry.