Relationship between Significant Life Events and Experiences in Adolescence

Versions

PDF (Russian)

Keywords

adolescence
life events
lifestyle
adolescent experiences
adolescent interests
modern adolescence
Generation Z
experience of success
time perspective
adolescent self-identification

Abstract

Introduction. The goal of research presented in this paper was to study the relationship between life events significant for adolescents and their experiences. The novelty of research consists in identification of experiences that are typical for Generation Z adolescents depending on what events in their vision of their lives they consider the most significant ones. For the first time it was demonstrated that there is a relationship between the categories of significant life events defined by adolescents and specific features of their personal experiences. Methods. The study was performed using projective techniques: ‘Past, Present, Future’ (A. L. Venger & Yu. M. Desyatnikova) and author’s original projective method ‘Becoming an Adult’. The study sample involved 1394 adolescents aged between 14 and 23. Results. The research showed that 85 % of respondents were interested in life situations that demonstrated traditional concepts of becoming an adult – in particular, adolescents paid special attention to creativity, achieving success, relativity of adulthood, and the brevity of life. Relativity of adulthood is directly associated with comprehension of adolescent experiences about the search for the meaning of life, its success or failure. It was demonstrated that on average, representatives of the Generation Z defined events that were significant in their lives in the time interval of 15 years, and most of them were associated with career and education, which reflects the expectations of the modern society, in which professional achievements act as an essential tool of social adaptation. Discussion. Multiple-stage analysis showed a distinct relationship between adolescent experiences of success and/or failure and life events, associated with respondents’ education and career. Conclusions. All in all, data of the performed study demonstrate the necessity to expand educational programs with situations that will allow adolescents to experience success/failure.

https://doi.org/10.21702/rpj.2021.3.5
PDF (Russian)

References

Abul'khanova, K. A. (2017). Time of personality and its vital way. Institut psikhologii Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Chelovek i mir, 1(1), 165–200. (in Russ.).

Adelman, R. M., Herrmann, S. D., Bodford, J. E., Barbour, J. E., Graudejus, O., Okun, M. A., & Kwan, V. S. Y. (2017). Feeling closer to the future Self and doing better: Temporal psychological mechanisms underlying academic performance. Journal of Personality, 85(3), 398–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12248

Adykulov, A. A. (2020). Cultural and historical approach of L. S. Vygotsky and creativity in the problem of research of the unconscious. Byulleten’ nauki i praktiki (Bulletin of Science and Practice), 6(1), 336–351. https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/50/42 (in Russ.).

Bogoyavlenskaya, D. B. (2019). Creativity in the era of social change. Obrazovanie lichnosti (Personality Formation), 2, 62–71. (in Russ.).

Boiko, O. V. (2019). Problem of psychological time in adolescence. Gumanitarnyi vestnik (Gorlovka), 8, 18–25. (in Russ.).

Bredun, E. V., Balanev, D. Yu., Vaulina, T. A., Krasnoryadtseva, O. M., & Shcheglova, E. A. (2020). Temporal characteristics of students as cognitive diagnostic characteristics: The context of adaptive education. Russian Psychological Journal, 17(1), 60–73. https://doi.org/10.21702/rpj.2020.1.5 (in Russ.).

Bukharina, A. Yu., & Tolstykh, N. N. (2019). Time perspective and temporal competence as factors of productive learning motivation. Sovremennaya zarubezhnaya psikhologiya (Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology), 8(2), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2019080204 (in Russ.).

Chesnokova, O. B., Churbanova, S. M., & Molchanov, S. V. (2019). Professional self-determination in young age as a structural component of future professionalism: Socio-cognitive and creative factors. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya (Cultural-Historical Psychology), 15(4), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2019150411 (in Russ.).

Danilov, A. N., Grishchenko, Zh. M., & Shchelkova, T. V. (2017). Generation of Z: Split of traditions or code conversion of culture. Zhurnal Belorusskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Sotsiologiya (Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology), 1, 109–118. (in Russ.).

Danilova, N. S. (2020). Target component of the future image in adolescence. Nauchnye issledovaniya XXI veka, 1, 394–400. (in Russ.).

Frank, L. K. (1939). Time perspectives. Journal of Social Philosophy, 4, 293–312.

Giordano, P. J. (2019). Science, culture, and the study of personality. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 12(2), 69–78. https://doi.org/10.11621/pir.2019.0206

Golovakha, E. I., & Kronik, A. A. (1984). Personal psychological time. Kiev: Naukova dumka. (in Russ.).

Golovina, S. G. (2018). Attitude towards success and motivation for success among the student youth. Tendentsii razvitiya nauki i obrazovaniya, 43–3, 69–72. https://doi.org/10.18411/lj-10-2018-69 (in Russ.).

Gonta, A. V. (2018). Psychological description of the experience of loneliness in youthful age. Nauchnye trudy respublikanskogo instituta vysshei shkoly, 18–2, 93–100. (in Russ.).

Habermas, T., & Reese, E. (2015). Getting a life takes time: The development of the life story in adolescence, its precursors and consequences. Human Development, 58, 172–201. https://doi.org/10.1159/000437245

Kryuchkov, K. S. (2019). Fyodor Vasilyuk’s lifeworld’s typology as personality development periodization: theoretical comparison and analysis. Izvestiya Yugo-Zapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Lingvistika i pedagogika (Proceedings of South-West State University. Series Linguistics and Pedagogical), 9(4), 179–194. (in Russ.).

Kulakova, A. B. (2018). Generation Z: theoretical aspect. Voprosy territorial’nogo razvitiya (Territorial Development Issues), 2. https://doi.org/10.15838/tdi.2018.2.42.6 (in Russ.).

Kurus', I. A., & Soldatova, E. L. (2020). Orientation and specificity of time transspective in view of intensity of crisis experiences in adolescence. Vektor nauki TGU. Seriya: Pedagogika, psikhologiya (Science Vector of Togliatti State University. Series: Pedagogy, Psychology), 2, 43–48. https://doi.org/10.18323/2221-5662-2020-2-43-48 (in Russ.).

Lewin, K. (2000). Field theory in social science. Saint Petersburg: Sensor. (in Russ.).

Lukina, N. L., & Solov'eva, E. A. (2019). The time perspective of students in secondary vocational and higher educational institutions. Novoe v psikhologo-pedagogicheskikh issledovaniyakh (Innovation in Psychological and Pedagogical Studies), 3, 170–176. (in Russ.).

Makushina, O. P. (2019). Perception of the past, present and future by students with different psychological ages. Vestnik VGU. Seriya: Problemy vysshego obrazovaniya (Proceedings of Voronezh State University. Series: Problems of higher education), 3, 46–50. (in Russ.).

Mead, M. (1988). Culture and the world of childhood. Selected works. Moscow: Nauka. (in Russ.).

Nuttin, J. (1984). Motivation, planning, and action: A relational theory of behavior dynamics. Leuven: Leuven University Press; Hillsdale: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Polivanova, K. N., & Shakarova, M. A. (2016). Socio-cultural child’s image (Soviet and Russian movies’ analysis). Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya (Cultural-Historical Psychology), 12(3), 255–268. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2016120315 (in Russ.).

Rubin, D. C., Wetzler, S. E., & Nebes, R. D. (1986). Autobiographical memory across the lifespan. In D. C. Rubin (Ed.), Autobiographical memory (pp. 202–221). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511558313.018

Schwartz, S. H., Cieciuch, J., Vecchione, M., Torres, C., Dirilen-Gumus, O., & Butenko, T. (2017). Value tradeoffs propel and inhibit behavior: Validating the 19 refined values in four countries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(3), 241–258. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2228

Settersten, R. A., & Mayer, K. U. (1997). The measurement of age, age structuring, and the life course. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 233–261. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.233

Shabanova, T. L., & Leonova, O. A. (2019). Specifics of internal conflicts during the period of early adulthood crisis in modern young people. Nizhegorodskii psikhologicheskii al’manakh, 1(1), 137–146. (in Russ.).

Shilova, N. P. (2018). Psychological and pedagogical bases of formation of stable educational interests in youth age. Zhivaya psikhologiya (Russian Journal of Humanistic Psychology), 5(2), 95–106. (in Russ.).

Shilova, N. P. (2019). The study on the process of maturation in adolescence. Pedagogika, 7, 65–71. (in Russ.).

Vedeneeva, E. V., & Zabelina, E. V. (2019). Model of psychological time of the personality included in globalization process (the study of students). Nauchno-pedagogicheskoe obozrenie (Pedagogical Review), 5, 166–177. https://doi.org/10.23951/2307-6127-2019-5-166-177 (in Russ.).

Venger, A. L., & Desyatnikova, Yu. M. (1995). Group work with senior pupils aimed at their adaptation to new conditions. Voprosy psikhologii, 1, 25–33. (in Russ.).

Vorontsova, Yu., & Ermolaev, V. V. (2016). Representations of “Generation Z” about their future family (on the example of senior pupils in Lithuania). Psikholog, 1, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.7256/2409-8701.2016.1.16664 (in Russ.).

Vygotsky, L. S. (2013). Collection of works: Volume 4. Child psychology. Moscow: Kniga po Trebovaniyu. (in Russ.).

Wilt, J. A., Thomas, S., & McAdams, D. P. (2019). Authenticity and inauthenticity in narrative identity. Heliyon, 5(7), e02178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02178

Yanitskii, M. S., Seryi, A. V., Braun, O. A., Pelekh, Yu. V., Maslova, O. V., Sokol'skaya, M. V., … Kapustina, T. V. (2019). The value orientations system of Generation Z: Social, cultural and demographic determinants. Sibirskii psikhologicheskii zhurnal (Siberian Journal of Psychology), 72, 46–67. https://doi.org/10.17223/17267080/72/3 (in Russ.).

Zakharova, A. Yu., & Trusova, A. V. (2019). Time perspective in patients with affective disorders: Review of scientific research. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Psikhologiya i pedagogika (RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics), 16(3), 435–450. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-1683-2019-16-3-435-450 (in Russ.).

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2021 Shilova N. P.