Nostalgia and Sentimentality Among Minority Elderly People (Bulgarian Roma People and Hungarians Living in Romania)

Abstract

Nostalgia and sentimentality are very typical for the old age. There are some characteristics that are perceived as typical for the elderly people in the different cultures, such as being dependent, and needing long-term care. There are also some similarities between the population tendencies in Bulgaria and Romania. The simultaneously acceptance in European Union of both countries also suggests the existence of some similar attitudes towards the past among elderly minority people in both countries. The hypothesis of the study was that together with some similarities, the elderly people from both ethnic minorities in the two countries would differ cross-culturally in their sentimentality and nostalgia related to the past. Sentimentality and nostalgia in elderly minority people (26 Roma people in Bulgaria and 21 Hungarians in Romania) were measured by means of a questionnaire created by Gergov & Stoyanova (2013). The results indicated that the Hungarian minority in Romania was more sentimental and nostalgic than the Roma minority in Bulgaria. More thoughts about the past reported the minority young elders than the minority oldest old. The females from the minority groups were more sentimental than the males from the minority groups. Higher sentimentality and nostalgia among elderly Hungarians could be explained by their higher conservatism and more satisfaction with the hystorical past than Roma people. Roma people living in institutions felt a sense of stability in their present and they shared some positive expectations for the future.