Nostalgia among Chinese students: A study of educational migration

 
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Abstract

Although educational migration is common in modern higher education, research shows that students studying in another city or country often experience psychological distress and report lower levels of subjective well-being and increased anxiety. Migration can also evoke nostalgia, but its role during this period is not well understood. The present work aims to examine the nostalgia experienced by Chinese students who left to study in another city or country, and to establish the relationships between different aspects of nostalgia and subjective well-being, anxiety, and crisis symptoms. A total of 167 Chinese students (mean age 20.78, SD 4.30) participated in the study: 1) those who left to study in Russia, 2) those who left for another province in China, and 3) those who remained in their home province. The data were collected using GAD-7, WHO-5, Crisis Symptom Scale, Nostalgia Proneness Scale, and the author’s questionnaire for qualitative study of nostalgia. Results revealed statistically significant between-group differences in subjective well-being (η² = 0.07, p < 0.01), anxiety (η² = 0.10, p < 0.001), and crisis symptom severity (η² = 0.05, p = 0.02); however, no differences were found in nostalgia proneness, frequency, and content. Analysis on the full sample showed that higher frequency of nostalgia was associated with higher anxiety (rs = 0.40, p < 0.001) and crisis symptom severity (rs = 0.34, p < 0.001). The obtained results expand existing data on nostalgia in vulnerable populations, and its role as a psychological resource supporting international students.

General Information

Keywords: nostalgia, educational migration, Chinese students, subjective well-being, anxiety, crisis, higher education

Journal rubric: Empirical and Experimental Research

Article type: scientific article

Funding. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project no. 23-18-00142. The results were presented at the All-Russian conference with international participation “Winter Psychological School — 2025”.

Received 23.05.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Bartseva, K.V., Bi, X., Samarina, Ya.S., Likhanov, M.V., Soldatova, E.L. (2025). Nostalgia among Chinese students: A study of educational migration . Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 15(4), 551–577. (In Russ.). URL: https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/vspu_psychology/archive/2025_n4/Bartseva_et_al (viewed: 03.03.2026)

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Information About the Authors

Ksenia V. Bartseva, Assistant Professor, Department of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Junior Research Fellow, Faculty of Psychology, Saint Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4854-726X, e-mail: bartseva.ksenia@gmail.com

Xing Long Bi, student, Saint Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8433-2809, e-mail: xinglongbi1@gmail.com

Yana S. Samarina, Student, Saint Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6895-9458, e-mail: samarinayana10@yandex.ru

Maxim V. Likhanov, Candidate of Science (Philology), Project Implementer, Psychology Department, Saint-Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6003-741X, e-mail: mvlikhanov@itmo.ru

Elena L. Soldatova, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Saint Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3902-0557, e-mail: elena_soldatova@rambler.ru

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