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From the Great Depression to the Globalization: Benefits and pitfalls of longitudinal studies observing humans in a society in transition
Millová, Katarína
Historical events, such as wars, changes in political systems or economic changes may take a relatively short time, but their impact can be very dramatic. The result is long-term changes not only in the transition society itself, but also on the individual level. A man's life is influenced by them variously, often according to age at which the change occurred. In addition to social aspects of one's life, psychological aspects are also affected (subjective well-being, values, aspirations, etc.). Most of the macro-social changes cannot be predicted sufficiently long time ahead. Thus, most of longitudinal studies examining changes in psychological characteristics before the transition and after it were more or less fortuitous. Therefore, only a few longitudinal studies had the opportunity to capture the dynamics of changes in psychological characteristics of ordinary people living in societies that have undergone some macro-social change.
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Self-regulation strategies in adulthood: Selection, optimization, and compensation in emerging and middle adulthood
Millová, Katarína
Self-regulation strategies are important especially during periods when a person goes through different life transitions. The extent to which they are used in life course is changing. This study (N = 185; 109 young adults, aged 20 to 25 years; 76 middle-aged adults, aged 47 to 50 years) was based on Baltes' theory of selective optimization with compensation (SOC). In both age groups we investigated the employment of three self-regulation mechanisms: selection, optimization, and compensation (i.e. life-management strategies). In general, young adults tended to use all of these strategies less than middle-aged adults. Their level of elective selection and compensation was below average. On the contrary, middle-aged adults were more likely to employ especially loss-based selection and optimization. Between-subject t test revealed significant differences between young adults and middle-aged adults in elective selection (t = -1,93; p < 0,01), loss-based selection (t = -1,52; p < 0,01), and optimization (t = -2,22; p < 0,01). No differences were found in compensation. In all detected significant differences, older group reached higher. Our results support previous findings of increased use of life-management strategies in middle-aged adults. They also bring some insight into the dynamics of these strategies over the life course.
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