SAUDADE: PRECIPITATING EVENTS, FEELINGS, AND COPING STRATEGIES

Abstract

For Lusophones, saudade is a common psychological experience related with the physical separation from relevant people and/or familiar locations. The subjective nature of saudade was studied using both qualitative and quantitative methodology. The sample consisted of 199 Portuguese college students. Participants were asked to express the circumstances that usually trigger a saudade experience, the feelings they usually associate with the experience, and the main coping strategies they usually try to implement when confronted with the experience. The saudade experience was conceived to be primarily triggered in situations of spatial or spatial-temporal distancing from significant individuals. The emotion most often mentioned directly was sadness. During saudade, some people try to sustain the emotion in different ways, for example by approaching objects that may prolong it; others tend to get rid of the emotion as quickly as possible, and still others tend to accept the experience and do nothing special to change it. The use of quantitative tools showed that the usual strength of the saudade experience was close to the maximum value.