Katica Lacković-Grgin

The Effects of Culture on the Meaning of Loneliness

The present study examined the influence of culturalbackground on the experience of loneliness. Threehundred and seventy five participants from NorthAmerica and 375 from Croatia volunteered to answer an82 item questionnaire which examined the quality oftheir loneliness experiences. The factors whichcomprise the experience of loneliness are Emotionaldistress, Social inadequacy and alienation, Growth anddiscovery, Interpersonal isolation, andSelf-alienation. Results indicated that culturalbackground, indeed, affects the experience ofloneliness. North Americans scored higher on all fivefactors, and a similar trend was evident when men andwomen were compared across cultures.

Some Predictors of Primary Control of Development in Three Transitional Periods of Life

In the context of some personal control (mastery) theories (e.g., J. Heckhausen & R. Schultz, 1995; Gutmann, 1964), primary, secondary, and tertiary personal control of development among subjects in three transitional periods of life were investigated (D. J. Levinson, C. N. Darrow, E. B. Klein, M. H. Levinson, & B. McKee, 1978). Results confirmed the expectation that primary control decrease whereas secondary control increase with age. Tertiary control was the same in all transitional periods. There were some differences in contribution of predictors of primary control in the early, middle, and late period of transition. From the group of variables relating to personality traits, optimism proved a good predictor of primary control in the young and middle aged, whereas in old people who have the lowest primary control, none of the personality traits proved predictive. The importance of goals related to knowledge and competence (GKC) was a significant predictor in all three (age) groups.

DOŽIVLJAJ I PRAKSA RODITELJSTVA U RAZLIČITIM ŽIVOTNIM RAZDOBLJIMA

Na motivaciju za roditeljstvo, odnosno na potrebu, želju iodluku za dobivanje djece, utjecu bioloski, psiholoski isocijalni faktori. O njihovoj interakciji ovisi preuzimanje iprihvacanje roditeljske uloge i kvaliteta odnosa s djecom urazlicitim razdobljima života. Namjera ovoga rada jestraspraviti neke posebnosti roditeljstva s obzirom na razvojneznacajke roditelja i djece. U adolescenciji doživljaj i praksaroditeljstva razlikuju se od onih u odrasloj dobi. Mladimanedostaju mnogi resursi koji omogucuju istaknutostroditeljske uloge i roditeljsku predanost. U mlađoj odraslojdobi socijalna mreža ohrabruje roditeljstvo, sto pridonosiporastu znacenja majcinskoga, odnosno ocinskog, identiteta,koji utjece na doživljaj roditeljstva i na otvorene oblikeroditeljskoga ponasanja. Doživljaj i praksa roditeljstva uzreloj odrasloj dobi povezani su s razvojem generativnosti,pa odnosi odraslih roditelja i njihove djece postajukompleksniji. U odnosu s djecom pojavljuje seambivalencija, posebice kad djeca nisu postigla predviđeninormativni status (zavrsetak obrazovanja, financijskuneovisnost, sklapanje braka i dr.). U starosti, koja jeposvecena rjesavanju krize integriteta nasuprot ocaju,aktualni doživljaj roditeljstva povezan je s evaluacijomnjegovih znacajki tijekom ranijih razdoblja života. Ishodi teevaluacije, jednako kao i kvaliteta aktualnih odnosa,određuju ponasanja prema odrasloj djeci te zadovoljstvoroditeljstvom.

Self-Regulation Across Some Life Transitions

Some earlier philosophers and scientists (e.g., in the theory of evolution of Charles Darwin, in the socio-cultural theory of cognitive development of L. Vigotsky, in the symbolic interactionism of G. H. Mead, and in the developmental-cognitive theory of J. Piaget – have brought forth the idea that the development of an individual is the result of the interaction of a person and the environment. That idea was best elaborated by K. Lewin (1951) in his field theory. From the formula that behavior is the function of a person and the environment (B = f(PE)), it follows that the environment influences the person but also that the person influences the environment and changes it. The idea was elaborated later in more detail by U. Bronfenbrenner in formulating the theory of ecological systems and R. M. Lerner in his developmental contextualism. The biological changes in the organism, as well as the social interactions, exist as a part of the ecological system (Bronfenbrenner 1979), and bi-directional, reciprocal, and dynamic interactions of biological, psychological, and social processes are responsible for development (Lerner and Kauffman 1985). Therefore, development is viewed as a confluence of many mutually linked systems and subsystems, biological, social, cultural, and historical. Under the influence of all this theorizing, in the contemporary life-span psychology, changes occurred in the understanding of the principal determinants of development, i.e., the explanation of development in terms of biological changes in the organism that has ceased to dominate. Also, subject of developmental psychology, as the psychology of childhood and adolescence, has been extended after sixties of the twentieth century. Baltes (1983) emphasizes that the German psychology of development in the thirties of the twentieth century the necessity that development should be studied during the whole life-span was emphasized continuously, and takes into consideration the social and cultural factors of development in the process. He points to life events and transitions as important stimuli of development. Historically new phenomena in development, such as prolonged adolescence, the crisis of the forties, the crisis of “the empty nest” as well as the extension of life-span of modern people, they all urge the life-span psychologists to view structures, stages and the dynamics of development with reference to the historical period and with reference to cultural differences.