Nostalgia for host culture facilitates repatriation success: The role of self-continuity

Abstract

Repatriation (returning home after having lived abroad) can be psychologically distressing. We theorized and found evidence that feeling nostalgic about a host culture contributes to repatriation success. We tested a sample of over 700 international teachers who worked in the United States (host culture) and then returned to their home countries. As hypothesized, nostalgia for the host culture was positively associated with repatriates’ self-continuity (a sense of connection between one’s past and present selves). Self-continuity, in turn, mediated the positive relation between host-culture nostalgia and psychological adjustment (self-esteem, approach motivation, job satisfaction). The findings have implications for the literatures on (a) multicultural experience and repatriation, and (b) the emotion of nostalgia and its relation to psychological adjustment.