Abstract
Saudade is a psychological experience resulting from the absence of significant others or familiar places. Four studies were conducted in view of creating a measure of saudade derived from previous prototype analyses. Data from four samples were collected: two samples of Portuguese undergraduate students, one sample of Portuguese adults, and one sample of Portuguese adolescents. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a three-factor latent structure of saudade was identified: Missing Close Others, Lack of Intimacy, and Longing for the Past. This three-factor structure was meaningfully associated with theoretically related constructs such as life satisfaction, negative affect, loneliness, love satisfaction, self-esteem, or neuroticism and was not associated with theoretically unrelated constructs such as tolerance or openness.
Keywords
Introduction
The term saudade, used in Lusophone countries, is a psychological experience resulting from the prolonged absence of significant others or familiar places. Feeling saudade is regarded as one of the most common expressions of emotions among Portuguese people (Farrell, 2006). In Brazil, saudade is officially celebrated each year, on January 30. From the medieval time to current days, the concept of saudade has inspired poets and novelists. The exact meaning of this construct is one of the most difficult to translate into English (Today Translations, 2004). It is commonly put on a par with terms such as longing, yearning, missing, homesickness, and nostalgia (Silva, 2012). None of these expressions, however, seems to convey the exact meaning of saudade as Lusophone people usually understand it.
Social psychologists (Neto & Mullet, 2014) have recently studied this construct by means of prototype theory (Rosch, 1978). In view of inventorying all features of saudade, these authors have asked university students to list all the expressions they spontaneously associate with this term. A total of 67 different features were mentioned by more than one participant, and 11 of them were frequently mentioned: memories (recordações), sadness (tristeza), missing someone (sentir falta de alguém), missing something (sentir falta de algo), thinking (pensar), sensation of loss (sensação de perda), nostalgia (nostalgia), distance (distância), crying (chorar), feeling (sentimento), and pain (dor). While most terms associated with saudade expressed negative feelings, positive feelings were also found (e.g., joy, love).
Neto and Mullet (2014) subsequently presented a second, different sample of students with these 67 features and asked them to evaluate the centrality of each feature and their affective valence. Respondents were able to assess each feature as more or less prototypical of the concept. The range of their affective valence ratings varied from very negative to very positive. Respondents were, therefore, aware of the complexity of saudade. Two complementary studies demonstrated that the centrality of these features was related (a) with their recognition and (b) with story writing of past experiences of saudade.
Aside from these studies, there has been little empirical work related to this emotion (Neto, 2019; Neto & Mullet, 2020). Neto (2019) explored whether Portuguese migrants residing in Switzerland for a long time differed from Portuguese adults without migratory experience in the expression of saudade in general. They used two questions: (a) How often did you experience saudade in the past 4 weeks, and (b) How often have you experienced saudade in comparison with other people. As expected, migrants reported greater levels of saudade than did nonmigrants. Nevertheless, the longer the time they have spent in Switzerland, the less they tended to report saudade. Both acculturation and adaptation indicators accounted for 44% of the explained variance in reported saudade. Among acculturation indicators, Portuguese language proficiency, separation score, and assimilation score predicted saudade in the expected direction. Among adaptation indicators, sociocultural adaptation problems and migration satisfaction also predicted saudade in the expected direction.
A main roadblock to the empirical study of saudade has probably been the lack of a standard, validated measure of its expression. In the study by Neto (2019) previously mentioned, saudade was evaluated using only two questions. The purpose of the current set of studies was, therefore, to develop a multi-item measure of saudade. Such a validated instrument would allow (a) taking steps toward the understanding of how and why people get saudade and (b) developing strategies for coping with this emotion.
Multi-item measurements are more reliable than single-item scales. As suggested by Carmel (2017), with “although a single global question is simple to use and acceptable in assessment of subjective reactions rather than in evaluations of objective phenomena, multi-item measures—even if unidimensional—are more stable, reliable and precise” (p. 29). A multi-item measurement would allow exploring a broader area of personal perceptions of the saudade experience than simple, direct questions. The current study examined, therefore, whether a meaningful set of questions underlies the construct of saudade (Neto & Mullet, 2014).
Prototype analysis has been used to develop instruments assessing various kinds of emotions: love and types of love (Aron & Westbay, 1996; Fehr, 1994; Fehr & Sprecher, 2009), respect (Frei & Shaver, 2002), boredom and feeling of absence (Harasymchuk & Fehr, 2012; Le et al., 2008), and relationship quality (Hassebrauck & Fehr, 2002), to quote a few.
In the first study of this series of four, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to the responses of a sample of university students on a set of 30 items intended to measure the experience of saudade. These items were created from the study by Neto and Mullet (2014). In the second study, the factor structure that was found in the first study was submitted to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the correlations between factor scores on the one hand, and loneliness and subjective well-being on the other hand were assessed in order to ensure concurrent validity. In the third study, a sample of adults was used, an additional CFA was conducted, and the correlations between factor scores, subjective well-being, and personality were assessed in order to ensure concurrent and discriminant validity. Finally, in the fourth study, a sample of adolescents was used and additional evidence regarding the psychometric characteristics of the scale was provided.
Study 1
As stated earlier, Study 1 explored the factor structure of a set of 30 items that were created from Neto and Mullet’s (2014) main findings.
Method
Participants
Participants were 386 nonpaid undergraduates (60% females) attending Porto University, Portugal. Their average age was 21 years (SD = 3.55; range = 18–47 years).
Material
Thirty items were created from the features that were attributed the highest centrality ratings in Neto and Mullet (2014, Table 1); that is, from the items most likely to express the meaning of saudade. The instruction was:
Main Results From the Exploratory Factor Analysis (Study 1).
Note. The boldface values indicate factor loadings higher than .60. MCO = Missing close others; LOA = Lack of intimacy; LFP = Longing for the past; h2 = communalities.
Please indicate the extent to which each of these statements describes your experience of saudade in the last four weeks. There are no right or wrong answers. Please try to answer to all questions as honestly and accurately as you can.
Ratings were given using 5-point scale ranging from 1 (Not at all) to 5 (Extremely). A direct global question on how frequently the respondents felt saudade was also asked: “To what extent have you experienced saudade during the past four weeks?” The answer ranged from 1 (Never) to 5 (Very often). The questionnaire was written in Portuguese.
Procedure
Participants completed the survey during regular courses. The research conformed to current legal and ethical norms in the country. It was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained, and full anonymity was assured. There was no time limit; mean time for completing was about 15 minutes. After completion, all participants’ questions were addressed. Respondents were not paid for taking part in the research.
Data Analyses
Descriptive statistics (ranges, frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, and product–moment correlations), EFA, internal consistencies, and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed. The validity of the 30-item scale was examined via data-driven EFA (Pedhazur & Schmelkin, 1991; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). EFA allows reducing “a data set from a group of interrelated variables into a smaller set of uncorrelated factors” (Field, 2000, p. 423). The internal consistency of the scale was assessed using Cronbach’s alphas (Cronbach & Shavelson, 2004). This measure of internal consistency is the mean of all possible spit-half correlations for a set of items. According to Kline (2000), when its value is between .70 and .90, consistency is good, and when it is between .91 and .99, consistency is excellent. The effects of socio-demographic variables were examined using ANOVA. Convergent validity was checked by correlating the factor scores and the self-reported saudade single-item. All data analyses were conducted through SPSS version 25 software. Significance levels were set at .05.
Results and Discussion
For most participants, saudade was a common experience: 29% of participants indicated that they experienced saudade very often, 25% often, 15% sometimes, 16% rarely, and 15% never. To test the sample’s suitability for factor analysis, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin’s (KMO) measure of sample adequacy was assessed, and Bartlett’s sphericity test was performed (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). The value of the KMO was .95; that is, greater than the recommended .60 threshold value (Field, 2000). Bartlett’s test was significant, χ2(435) = 6,936.38, p < .001, which confirmed heteroscedasticity. All the items had, therefore, enough common variance for factor analysis. The respondent-to-item ratio was higher than 10 to 1 (Gaskin & Happell, 2014).
The EFA performed on the 30 items showed that, after VARIMAX rotation, 14 items had factor loadings higher than .60, and cross-loadings lesser than .40. These items were selected, and a second EFA was performed. On the basis of scree-plot, a three-factor solution was retained, with eigenvalues higher than 1. Items, loadings, communality estimate, and mean and standard deviation for items and factors are shown in Table 1. This solution accounted for 68% of the explained variance. All factor loadings were higher than .60 on their corresponding factor, and no item had a cross-loading higher than .40.
The first factor was labeled Missing close others, because it loaded on items such as “I suffer from being so far away from people I love” and “I would like to come back and see my family.” The second factor was labeled Lack of intimacy, because it loaded on items such as “I suffer from lack of affection.” The third factor was labeled “Longing for the past,” because it loaded on items such as “I keep remembering the past.”
The three-factor scores were significantly different from each other, F(2, 366) = 164.07, p < .001. Post-hoc analysis, using the Scheffé-test, showed that Missing close others and Longing for the past differed significantly from Lack of intimacy (p < .001). This result was consistent with Neto and Mullet’s (2014) findings that the features corresponding to these two scales were rated as more “central” than the features corresponding to Lack of intimacy. Females’ ratings on Missing close others (M = 3.12, SD = 1.08) were higher than males’ ratings (M = 2.66, SD = 1.07), F(1, 360)= 15.55, p < .001, η2 = .042. Correlations between factor scores ranged from .48 to .55.
The correlations between self-reported saudade and Missing close others (r = .65) or Longing for the past (r = .50) were strong although the correlation between self-reported saudade and Lack of intimacy (r = .42) was only of moderate size (Cohen, 1988). They were significant in all cases, p < .001. Convergent validity of the resulting 14-item scale was, therefore, good.
Study 2
As the reduced 14-item scale assessing experienced saudade (a) showed adequate internal consistency and (b) correlated significantly with a global measure of reported saudade, a second study, using CFA, was conducted with the aim of assessing further its psychometric properties. Another goal of Study 2 was to assess the validity of the scale by examining the relationships between factor scores and theoretically related constructs, namely, loneliness, positive and negative affect, and satisfaction with life. We expected that the greater the level of experienced saudade, the higher the level of loneliness, the higher the level of negative affect, and the lower the level of satisfaction with life.
Method
Participants
Participants were 266 nonpaid undergraduates (54% females) from Porto University, Portugal. The average age was 21 years (SD = 3.45; range = 18–43 years).
Material
In addition to the 14-item scale and the single item assessing experienced saudade already used in Study 1, the material comprised three additional scales measuring constructs that were expected to be related to saudade: (a) the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985), (b) the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988), and (c) the Loneliness scale (Neto, 2014; Russell et al., 1980).
The SWLS has five items (e.g., “The conditions of my life are excellent”). The reliability and validity of its Portuguese version (Neto, 1993, 1995) are good (see Table 2). The PANAS is composed of two sets of adjectives describing emotional states: 10 positive adjectives (e.g., “alert”) and 10 negative adjectives (e.g., “afraid”). The reliability and validity of its Portuguese version (Simões, 1993) are also good (see Table 2). The Loneliness scale has six items (e.g., “I feel isolated from others”). The reliability and validity of its Portuguese version (Neto, 2014) is good.
Mean, SD, and Internal Consistency of Each Subscale.
Note. Intercorrelations Between subscales.
Procedure and Data Analyses
The procedure was identical to that used in Study 1, with the addition of the three scales earlier mentioned. The mean time to complete the survey was 20 minutes. As in Study 1, descriptive statistics, internal consistencies, analysis of variance, and Pearson product–moment correlations were assessed.
In addition, a CFA was conducted in order to estimate the extent to which the three-factor structure evidenced in Study 1 fit the data observed in this new sample of university students. According to Browne and Cudeck (1993), Hu and Bentler (1999), and Kline (2015), the fit with the model can be considered as good (a) when χ2 tests are nonsignificant, and since χ2 tests are sensitive to sample size, (b) when other fit indices, such as goodness of fit or comparative fit are greater than .90, and (c) when measurements of residuals, such as standardized root mean square residual, or root mean square error of approximation are lower than .06 or .08, respectively. The CFA has been performed using the SEPATH module of STATISTICA.
Results and Discussion
The proportions of participants having experienced different levels of saudade were similar to the ones found in Study 1: 21% of the participants indicated that they experienced saudade very often, 20% often, 17% sometimes, 19% rarely, and 23% never. The model tested was the correlated three-factor model shown in Table 1. No correlation between error terms was allowed. As shown in Table 2, the fit of this model was good. Factor loadings ranged from .51 to .88, and all items were significantly associated with one and only one of the three factors (p < .001).
As shown in Table 4, participants who scored high on the three subscales reported more negative affect, more loneliness and were less satisfied with their life. No factor score was significantly associated with positive affect. Correlations were strong between self-reported saudade and Missing close others, and moderate between self-reported saudade and Lack of intimacy or Longing for the past. As in Study 1, females’ ratings on Missing close others (M = 2.90, SD = 1.06) were significantly higher than males’ ratings (M = 2.56, SD = 1.06), F(1,255)= 5.15, p < .05, η2 = .020.
In summary, the three-factor structure of the 14-item scale fit the data obtained in Study 2, which demonstrates that the construct validity of this scale was good. In addition, the three components of the structure were associated with related constructs in the expected way, which suggests that it also has good concurrent validity.
Study 3
In Studies 1 and 2, samples of students living in the North of Portugal have been used. Study 3 assessed the validity of the 14-item scale, now called the Experience of Saudade Scale (ESS), using a sample of adults living in Lisbon, the capital-city. Study 3 also aimed at providing additional evidence of the scale’s validity by assessing the relationships between factor scores and theoretically related constructs such as loneliness (as in Study 2) and self-esteem, satisfaction with love life, and personality. We expected that the higher the level of reported saudade, the lower the level of self-esteem, the lower the level of satisfaction with love life, and the higher the level of neuroticism.
Method
Participants
Participants were 246 nonpaid adults (47% females) living in the area of Lisbon, Portugal. Their average age was 36 years (SD = 9.12, range = 20–65 years): 39% were single, 48% married or cohabiting, 13% divorced or widowed. Eleven percent had not completed secondary education, 63% had completed secondary education, and 26% had completed tertiary education.
Material
In addition to the ESS and to the single item assessing self-reported saudade that were used in Studies 1 and 2, and in addition to the loneliness scale that was used in Study 2, a self-esteem scale, a satisfaction with love life scale, and the five subscales of a personality test were used. Self-esteem was assessed with the Portuguese version (Neto, 1996) of Rosenberg’s (1965) 10-item inventory (e.g., “On the whole I am satisfied with myself”). Satisfaction with love life was evaluated using the Satisfaction with Love Life Scale (SWLL; Neto, 2005; Neto & Dimitrova, 2017; Neto & Pinto, 2015). The SWLL comprises five items that parallel items used in the classical SWLS (e.g., “In most ways my love life is close to my ideal”). Finally, personality was assessed using the Portuguese version of the NEO-FFI (Barros & Marques, 1996; Costa & McCrae, 1992; Neto, 2007).
Procedure and Data Analyses
Participants were recruited face-to-face via convenience sampling by two research assistants in public areas of the city (e.g., railway stations and commercial centers). They completed anonymously the paper version of the survey in a quiet place. Informed consent was obtained. Participation rate was 75%. Respondents were not paid. Participants took 20 to 25 minutes to complete the questionnaire. After the completion, all participants’ questions were addressed. As in Study 2, descriptive statistics, internal consistencies, ANOVA, Person product–moment correlations, and CFA were performed.
Results and Discussion
For most adults also, saudade was a common experience: 9% of the participants reported that they have experienced saudade very often, 11% often, 39% sometimes, 24% rarely, and 17% never. The model tested was, as in Study 2, the one shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 3, the fit of the model was good. All factor loadings were significant, and they ranged from .60 to .90. As shown in Table 2, alpha values were higher than .80.
Goodness of Fit Indices.
Correlations Between the Three-Factor Scores and Related Constructs.
Scores on the Missing close others subscale were lower among cohabiting and married participants (M = 2.44, SD = .94) than among single, divorced, or widowed participants (M = 2.76, SD = 1.02), F(1, 244) = 5.89, p < .05, η2 = .03. Scores on Lack of intimacy were lower among cohabiting and married participants (M = 1.66, SD = .82) than among single, divorced, or widowed participants (M = 2.09, SD = .99), F(1, 244) = 19.20, p < .001, η2 = .05. There was no significant effect of age or gender.
As shown in Table 4, (a) correlations between self-reported saudade and the three subscales of the ESS were significant, (b) correlations between these three subscales and loneliness were, as in Study 2, significant, (c) correlations between these three subscales and self-esteem or SWLL were in the expected directions, and (d) correlations between the three subscales and personality were, above all, high with regard to neuroticism. Results showed that the higher the ESS scores, and the lower the self-esteem score and the satisfaction with love life score. Results also revealed that the higher the ESS scores and the higher the neuroticism score.
In summary, the three-factor structure found in samples of students was also found among adults, and correlations with a host of theoretically related constructs were in the expected directions. These findings support the view that the ESS has, among adults, good convergent, concurrent, and discriminant validity.
Study 4
The aim of Study 4 was to assess the fit of the three-factor structure of the ESS in a sample of participants who were younger than the ones considered in the three previous studies. A sample of adolescents was, therefore, used. In Study 2 (students) or in Study 3 (adults), the experience of saudade was not significantly related to age. Adolescents may, however, experience more saudade than adults. According to Erikson’s theory of individual development, people at younger ages tend to highly prize friendships, close intimate relations, and personal identity, whereas, among adults, work life and personal achievements are more central (Conway & Holmes, 2004). Another aim of Study 4 was to check further the discriminant validity of the scale by introducing, in addition to the measurements assessing convergent and concurrent validity, a construct that should not be related to the experience of saudade, namely, tolerance of others (ethnic tolerance and social egalitarianism).
Method
Participants
Authorizations for the application of the survey in class were granted by the head of a high school in the district of Oporto. Informed consent was subsequently obtained from parents and participants, and full anonymity was guaranteed. The sample comprised 180 Portuguese high school students (42% female) attending the 12th grade. Their average age was 17 years (SD = .54; range = 16–18 years). Forty-five percent of the fathers and 55% of the mothers had completed secondary education. Twenty-two percent of participants were atheist, 43% believed in God, and 33% were regular attendees of the church.
Material
In addition to the ESS and to the single item assessing self-reported saudade used in Studies 1 and 2, and in addition to the loneliness scale (Neto, 1992), the SWLS (Neto, 1993), and the PANAS (Neto & Pinto, 2015) used in Study 2, a tolerance scale and a single-item measurement of self-esteem were used in this study. The tolerance scale was an 11-item self-report (Berry, 2017; Neto, 2009; Neto & Neto, 2017) assessing ethnic tolerance (six items) and social egalitarianism (five items). A sample item is: “It is good to have people from different ethnic groups living in the same country.” The single item assessing self-esteem was: “I am someone who generally has high self-esteem” (Neto, 2016; Robins et al., 2001). The responses options ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 5 (Very much). This measure is valid and a proxy for the 10-item Rosenberg (1965) scale. All these scales have revealed adequate psychometric properties among adolescents in Portugal.
Procedure and Data Analyses
Data collection was conducted inside the school building. Participants were informed that they were free to withdraw at any moment. The questionnaire was written in Portuguese. The mean time for completing the survey was approximately 20 minutes. After completion, all participants’ questions were addressed. CFA, descriptive statistics, internal reliabilities, analysis of variance, and Pearson’s correlations were conducted on the data.
Results and Discussion
For most adolescents, saudade was, as for undergraduate students and adults, a common experience: 30% of the participants indicated that they experienced saudade very often, 21% often, 17% sometimes, 21% rarely, and 11% never. As the structure of the ESS had never been tested on samples of adolescents, a CFA was first performed using the three-factor model. As shown in Table 3, the fit of this model was good. Factor loadings ranged from .51 to .93, and all items were significantly associated with one and only one factor (p < .001). As shown in Table 2, the alpha values were high.
The three means of the factors were significantly different, F(2, 178) = 80.80, p < .001. Post-hoc analysis utilizing the Scheffé-test showed that Missing close others and Longing for the past differed significantly from Lack of intimacy (p < .001). The effects of age, religious involvement, and father’s or mother’s education on the three subscales were not significant. As shown in Table 4, the correlations between the ESS and satisfaction with life, negative affect and loneliness were in the expected direction, although they were smaller than in Studies 2 and 3. As expected, the correlations between the ESS subscales and the tolerance scale were not significant.
Finally, a comparison of the current data with data analyzed in Study 3 was conducted. A multivariate analysis of variance testing for age differences (adolescents vs. adults) and gender differences (females vs. males) between the three saudade factors was significant for age, Wilks’ λ = .89, F(3, 383) = 16.36, p < .001, ηp2 = .11. It was not significant, however, for gender or for the Age × Gender interaction. Subsequent ANOVAs with age as the between factor showed that (a) adolescents’ scores (M = 3.06, SD = 1.05) on Missing close others were higher than adults’ scores (M = 2.58, SD = 1.00), F(1, 418) = 22.63, p < .001, η2 =.05, (b) adolescents’ scores (M = 2.20, SD = 1.13) on Lack of intimacy were higher than adults’ scores (M = 1.87, SD = .93), F(1, 423) = 10.35, p < .01, η2 =.02, and (c) adolescents’ scores (M = 3.19, SD = .99) on Longing for the past were higher than adults’ scores (M = 2.54, SD = .95), F(1, 413) = 46.59, p < .001, η2 =.10. In brief, adolescents scored systematically higher on the three saudade dimensions than adults.
General Discussion
The development and preliminary validation of a new tool to measure saudade, using prototype-based scale construction techniques, has been reported. For most participants, saudade was, irrespective of age, a common experience: More than three quarters reported that they experienced saudade at least from time to time. Saudade is, therefore, far from being an infrequent phenomenon. As already suggested by many authors, working in different fields, it is part of Portuguese people’s psychological daily life (Farrell, 2006; Silva, 2012).
In the ESS, the word saudade is never mentioned in any of the 14 items that were selected. In other words, the experience of saudade was assessed indirectly. The psychological structure of the experience of saudade can now be considered as well established. It comprises three separate aspects that refer to the experience of missing close others, the experience of lack of intimacy, and the experience of longing for the past.
The first aspect of the experience of saudade—Missing close others—is clearly interpersonal in character. It corresponds to the realization that having close relationships with the persons with whom it would be the most natural thing (e.g., the family) is, unfortunately, impossible. These people live far away; in other words, they are missing. In many cases, it is actually the life partner who is living far way and, as a result, painfully missing (Le et al., 2008).
The second aspect of the experience of saudade is clearly intrapersonal in character: Lack of Intimacy. It corresponds to the feeling that, even if one has many relationships, at work or in the neighborhood, these relationships are certainly not close enough to be considered as intimate relationships. Finally, the third aspect is intertemporal in character: Longing for the past. It corresponds to the feeling that the good old days will never come back.
The psychometric properties of the ESS are good. Each subscale has satisfactory internal consistency, and satisfactory validity. The internal consistency coefficients of the ESS subscales were higher than .79 in all studies; that is, higher than the appropriate cutoff suggested in the literature (Cicchetti, 1994; Cronbach, 1990; Kline, 2015). The convergent validity of the ESS subscales, as reflected in the correlations between factor scores and self-reported saudade, was high: All coefficients were higher than .35, that is, higher than the threshold suggested by Hammid et al. (1989).
The concurrent validity of the ESS was supported by significant and strong correlations between the factor scores and theoretically related constructs such as negative affect, neuroticism, loneliness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. In each case, the association was in the expected direction. The discriminant validity of the ESS was supported by an absence of strong association between factor scores and theoretically unrelated constructs such as tolerance and openness.
As expected
Limitations
There are several limitations to these studies. First, convenience samples of moderate size were used. They were, however, always sufficiently large to provide adequate statistical power. Future studies should try to replicate the current findings with more representative samples, and with samples from other Lusophone countries, such as Brazil. Second, the ESS was developed using samples of university students, adults, and adolescents. Future research should scrutinize the validity of the ESS among older persons, and also among international students. Third, although the scale has shown satisfactory levels of reliability and validity, it remains a self-report instrument that might be liable to social desirability. Finally, we did not assess the temporal stability of responses of the ESS. It is likely that external circumstances (e.g., the death of the loved one) may affect the experience of saudade.
In spite of these limitations, our findings suggest that the ESS is a brief psychometrically sound instrument that can be used as such not only in survey research but also for clinical applications. For example, in the domain of therapy, next research might shed light on the effect of saudade on the subjective well-being among lonely people. Researches examining the relationships between saudade and connectedness, inspiration, fantasy (Kirkham et al., 2019), and creativity (Geher et al., 2017) are currently ongoing.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
