Psichologiniai tapsmo suaugusiuoju aspektai skirtinga socialinės brandos eiga pasižyminčių jaunuolių grupėse

This study addresses several complementary problematic questions, related to the process of becoming an adult among Lithuanian youth : a) contemporary transitions to adulthood (pathways to adult social roles) and diversity of these transitions in Lithuanian context; b) psychological aspects of becoming an adult outlined in the theory of emerging adulthood, and groups of young people that differ in terms of these aspects; c) links between social pathways to adulthood and psychological aspects of becoming an adult. The results of the study contribute to the field of research of the process of becoming an adult in several ways. First, results indicate that transitions to adult roles among Lithuanian youth are diversified, t.y. characterized by a great variety to transitional social pathways. Second, results indicate that transitions to adult roles in residential, partner-family and education-work domains are interrelated. Therefore transitions to adult roles happen by moving from one role configuration to another. Third, the process of becoming an adult, in terms tasks and features of emerging adulthood is also varying. Finally, a clear parallels exist between changes of and transitions adult social status and tasks and features of emerging adulthood. This indicates that delay in transitions to adult roles is related to delay of overcoming with other tasks, such as identity formation, separation-individuation or learning to act responsibly.Šiame darbe yra nagrinėjama: a) dabartinė Lietuvos jaunuolių socialinių suaugusiojo statusų kaita (socialinė branda) ir jos įvairovė; b) psichologiniai tapsmo suaugusiuoju aspektai, įvardyti besiformuojančio suaugusiojo raidos tarpsnio teorijoje (jaunuoliams būdingų raidos užduočių įveikimas ir besiformuojančio suaugusiojo periodo savybės) ir jaunuolių grupės besiskiriančios šiais psichologiniais tapsmo suaugusiuoju aspektais; c) socialinės brandos ir psichologinių tapsmo suaugusiuoju aspektų ryšiai Lietuvos sociokultūriniame kontekste. Atliktas tyrimas papildo esamas žinias apie tapsmo suaugusiuoju procesą keliais aspektais. Visų pirma, tyrime nustatyta, kad Lietuvos jaunuolių branda yra diversifikuota, t.y. pasižymi didele stipriai besiskiriančių socialinės brandos takų įvairove. Antra, rasta, kad socialinės brandos pokyčiai gyvenamojo būsto, partnerio-šeimos ir mokslo-darbo srityse yra tarpusavyje susiję. Trečia, tapsmo suaugusiuoju procesas, vertinant psichologinius šio proceso aspektus, taip pat yra įvairus, t.y. 25 m. amžiaus jaunuolių grupėje galima išskirti bent tris pogrupius, besiskiriančius jaunystei būdingų raidos užduočių įveikimu ir besiformuojančio suaugusiojo raidos tarpsnio bruožais. Ketvirta, egzistuoja paralelės tarp socialinių statusų kaitos ir psichologinių tapsmo suaugusiuoju aspektų, t.y. socialinės brandos įvykių ir suaugusiojo vaidmenų įgijimo laikas yra sietinas ir su kitų šiam tarpsniui būdingų raidos užduočių įveikimu

Tapsmo suaugusiuoju ženklai Lietuvos jaunuolių imtyje

Almost two decades ago Arnett (1994, 1997, 2001) suggested that, from the perspective of youth, becoming an adult is not achieved through a series of role changes, such as getting married or starting a long-time career, but rather through the acquisition of individual character qualities, such as the ability to accept responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. This sparked a debate among social scientists on whether the “traditional” markers of adulthood (e.g., marriage, leaving the parental home) were still important. One limitation to the line of Arnett’s research is that most of it have been conducted using the USA white student samples. Similar research employing the same instruments, but conducted in different cultures or ethnic groups, showed that criteria for adulthood can vary cross-culturally (e.g., Nelson, Badger, & Wu, 2004). This evidence suggests that cross-cultural generalizations regarding the criteria of adulthood may be limited and, therefore, it is important to evaluate which criteria are perceived by youth as defining adulthood in a particular cultural context.The goal of this study was threefold: to examine the conceptions defining an adult person by Lithuanian emerging adults according to Arnett’s list of adult criteria, to evaluate gender differences in these conceptions, and to evaluate how the popularity of these criteria differ from the views of youth living in other Western industrialized countries. Arnett’s questionnaire on markers of adulthood (2001) was administered to a sample of 434 (age M = 22.5, SD = 1.91) emerging adults.Accepting responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions was viewed as the most necessary criterion for becoming an adult. Being capable of caring for children was the next most highly endorsed criterion for both women and men. The next most important criteria were “avoid drunk driving” (87.1%), “avoid committing petty crimes like vandalism and shoplifting” (82.9%), “decide on personal beliefs and values independently of parents or other influences” (82.0%), “become capable of keeping family physically safe (men)” (81.8%), “if a man, become capable of supporting a family financially” (81.3%), “if a woman, become capable of running a household” (80.2%) and “financially independent from parents” (79.5%). Role transitions, on the other hand, were endorsed only by about a third of the study participants. Taken together, the results suggest that becoming an adult among Lithuanian emerging adults, similarly to other Western countries, is perceived primarily as the acquisition of certain character qualities rather than going through role changes. However, contrary to Arnett’s findings with the US samples, capacities to maintain family responsibilities seem to be more important than achieving independence and self-sufficiency.Šiuo aprašomojo pobūdžio tyrimu siekta atskleisti, kuriuos iš Arnetto nurodytų tapsmo suaugusiuoju ženklų Lietuvos jaunuoliai laiko svarbiais, kuo skiriasi šių ženklų svarbos vertinimas vyrų ir moterų grupėse ir kiek Lietuvos jaunuolių požiūris skiriasi nuo gyvenančiųjų Vakarų šalyse. Tyrime dalyvavo 434 jaunuoliai (215 vyrų, 219 moterų). Tiriamųjų amžiaus M = 22,48, SD = 1,91. Tiriamiesiems buvo pateiktas klausimynas, kurį sudaro 39 suaugusio asmens ženklai (kriterijai), grįsti Arnetto tyrimais (pvz., Arnett, 2001, 2003), prašant nurodyti, kurie ženklų yra būtini, kad asmenį būtų galima laikyti suaugusiu.Tyrimo rezultatai rodo, kad Lietuvos jaunuoliai, panašiai kaip Vakarų šalių, tapsmą suaugusiuoju supranta kaip tam tikrų individualių savybių įgijimą, o ne kaip su vaidmenų kaita siejamų įvykių išgyvenimą. Tačiau, skirtingai nei Vakarų šalių jaunuoliams, šalia svarbių tapsmo suaugusiuoju savybių, rodančių individo savarankiškumą, autonomiją bei savo elgesio kontrolę, Lietuvos jaunuoliams svarbiausios pasirodė savybės, apibūdinančios sugebėjimus pasirūpinti savo šeima. Jaunų Lietuvos vyrų ir moterų požiūris į tapsmo suaugusiuoju svarbą skiriasi nedaug: yra nedidelių skirtumų vertinant šeimyninių kompetencijų, siejamų su vaidmenimis šeimoje, ir taisyklių laikymosi svarbą tapsmui suaugusiuoju

Interpersonal Behaviors Questionnaire (IBQ) applied to parenting of emerging adults: dimensional structure and criterion validity

CC BY 4.0Background: The prolonged transitions to adulthood strengthen interest in parenting characteristics that can shape emerging adults’ development and progression to full-fledged adulthood. It also strengthens interest in instruments suitable for measuring such parenting characteristics. The current study contributes to this area of research by applying the Interpersonal Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), to assess parenting behaviors that are pertinent for emerging adults’ development and wellbeing, and seeks evidence of its dimensional structure and criterion validity. Method: The sample of the study consisted of 600 emerging adults (Mage = 24.94, SDage = 3.03, range 19–29 years; 52.3% women). The dimensionality of IBQ was assessed by testing a sequence of theoretically plausible models representing alternative factor score structures. Criterion validity was investigated by exploring the associations between the IBQ dimensions and basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, negative affectivity, and thriving. Results: The findings provide evidence of a hypothesized six-factor structure, but advocate for the use of exploratory structural equation as it may more accurately reflect associations between the six dimensions. Findings also provide evidence of criterion validity. Conclusions: The findings indicate that IBQ applied to parenting targets dimensions highly relevant for EAs’ flourishing or impoverished functioning. Findings also offer evidence of structure and criterion validity for the IBQ applied to emerging adults’ parent behaviors. As such, researchers may find IBQ attractive, as it is relatively concise yet also a holistic measure that captures the behaviors that both support and thwart an emerging adult’s need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings also shed light on the process of becoming an adult, the shift in parent–child relationships during this process, and emerging adults’ wellbeing

Vyresniųjų klasių moksleivių miego kokybės, su ja susijusio elgesio ir asmenybės bruožų sąsajos

Objectives. Adolescence is a period of various physical, cognitive activities, emotional and social alterations, which need additional bodily resources and naturally good and sufficient sleep for renewing these resources. However, increased requirements in school, new social interests, biological alterations make adolescents’ sleep not sufficiently long and qualitative enough, so achievements at school and the quality of life generally suffer. There are a lot of researches on this topic in foreign countries, but we couldn’t find any in Lithuania. Little research, both in Lithuania and abroad, has been done on personality and sleep quality relations in adolescence and on how personality traits can be related to sleep quality, how this relation can be affected by sleep-related behaviour.Purpose. To evaluate the relationship of personality features to sleep quality and sleep-related behaviour in older schoolchildren. The research involved 88 boys and 124 girls from two Kaunas schools. Methods. A questionnaire was prepared to evaluatesleep quality. It contained 31 questions concerning various sleep quality aspects. Four indices (troubles in falling asleep, night rest satisfaction, daytime fatigue, habit to sleep in the daytime) were selected after a factor analysis. Additionally, 12 questions concerning sleep-related behaviour were asked, from which four indices (use of psychoactive substances, sport, PC games and watching TV, relaxation activity before sleep) were constructed after factor analysis and used in this study. The NEO PI-R questionnaire was used to measure personality traits.Results. In boys and girls, neuroticism is related with the difficulties of falling asleep and less satisfaction with night’s rest independently of sleep-related behaviour. Girls’ openness to experience is related to daytime fatigue, and their extraversion and smaller agreeableness are related with difficulties of falling asleep, but this association is affected by the use of psychoactive substances. Boys’ conscientiousness is related to daytime sleeping, but this relation is affected by engaging in sport activities. Girls’ engagement in the activities that help relax before sleep is related to their higher conscientiousness, higher agreeableness, more frequent difficulties with falling asleep and daytime sleeping. Boys’ extraversion, openness, agreeableness and sleep quality are not related to each other.Užsienyje yra atlikta nemažai tyrimų, rodančių, kad dėl didėjančių reikalavimų mokykloje ir naujai atsiradusių socialinių interesų, taip pat biologinių pokyčių paaugliai miega nepakankamai ilgai ir kokybiškai. Dėl to nukenčia jų pažangumas mokykloje, didėja psichoaktyvių medžiagų naudojimo rizika ir kita. Užsienyje šia kryptimi atlikta nemažai tyrimų, vis dėlto nedaug yra tyrinėtas miego kokybės ryšys su tyrimų, vertinančių, kaip asmenybės bruožai gali būti susiję su miego kokybe, per miegui nepalankų elgesį, rasti pavyko nedaug, o paauglių tokių tyrimų neradome. Taigi, siekdami įvertinti Lietuvos paauglių miego kokybės rodiklius, asmenybės bruožų ir miego kokybės sąsajas bei kaip asmenybės bruožai yra susiję su įvairia sveikatai nepalankia elgsena, kuri savo ruožtu gali turėti didelę įtaką ir miego kokybei, apklausėme 88 vaikinus ir 124 merginas (amžiaus vidurkis 17,7 metų) iš dviejų Kauno mokyklų. Tyrimui buvo sudarytas klausimynas, skirtas įvertinti įvairius miego kokybės aspektus ir miegui nepalankų elgesį. Asmenybės bruožams tirti buvo naudotas NEO PI-R klausimynas. Rezultatai parodė, kad vaikinų ir merginų neurotizmo bruožas yra susijęs su didesniais sunkumais užmigti ir mažesniu pasitenkinimu nakties poilsiu, kad ir koks būtų elgesys, susijęs su miego kokybe. Merginų grupėje atvirumo patyrimui bruožas yra susijęs su mieguistumu dieną, o ekstraversija ir mažesnis sutariamumas yra susiję su sunkumais užmigti. Ši sąsaja yra veikiama dažnesnio psichoaktyvių medžiagų vartojimo. Vaikinų sąmoningumo bruožas yra susijęs su dažnesniu miegojimu dieną. Ši sąsaja yra veikiama dažnesnio sportavimo. Užsiėmimas atpalaiduojančia veikla prieš miegą merginų grupėje yra susijęs su atvirumo patyrimui ir sąmoningumo bruožais bei su didesniais sunkumais užmigti ir miegojimu dieną. Vaikinų ekstravesija, atvirumas patyrimui ir sutariamumas su miego kokybe bei su miego kokybe susijusiu elgesiu nėra susiję

Profiles of achievement goal orientations among adolescents with different SES background before and during the Covid-19 pandemic

This study aimed to identify profiles of achievement goal orientations and transitions between these profiles among adolescents from different socioeconomic backgrounds before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. A sample of 1268 adolescents (51.7% females; Mage = 14.87; SDage = 0.39) participated in four waves of data collection: One took place pre-pandemic (at the start of 9th grade) and three took place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Latent transition analyses revealed four profiles of achievement goal orientations at each study wave: moderately motivated, success-oriented, mastery-oriented, and unmotivated. Most adolescents remained in the same profile or transitioned to a similar one across subsequent study waves. However, some more substantive, mostly unfavourable patterns of transitions between the profiles were also observed, especially among highly motivated adolescents. The latter patterns coincided with pandemic-related online learning periods. Results also showed a large motivational disadvantage among students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, which was particularly pronounced before the pandemic, but remained salient throughout the study

Profiles of achievement motivation and performance in middle school: links to student background and perceived classroom climate

CC BY 4.0Achievement motivation and performance at school are reciprocally related, however, empirical studies report a large variability of findings and, in some cases, weaker than expected associations between these constructs. To further our understanding of the motivation–performance link, we examined typical patterns of motivation and performance and their correlates, in two cohorts of 8th-grade students (N1 = 998, N2 = 441). As expected, we identified both concordant and discordant patterns of achievement motivation and performance. In two subgroups, specifically, those characterized by low motivation and low performance (34% of the sample) and those characterized by high motivation and high performance (18% of the sample), the levels of motivation were highly concordant with scores on math and reading tests. In contrast, the other two profiles—weak motivation with elevated performance (38% of all sample) and high motivation with low performance (9% of the sample) had divergent patterns of motivation and performance. The subgroups also differed on student socio-economic background, special educational needs, gender, as well as perceptions of classroom climate. Overall, our findings reveal context-dependent patterns of the relationship between aspects of achievement motivation and performance

Perception of COVID-19 on the Employment and well-being Among Young Adults

Faculty advisor: Abigail Gewirtz; Research PI: Joyce SeridoDuring emerging adulthood (EA, 18-30 years old), individuals are expected to become financially self-sufficient, and the most common pathway is through employment. Many EAs were struggling to secure stable employment. As a result, EAs are taking longer to become financially self-sufficient and many continue to rely on family financial support in the third decade of life. The economic impact of COVID-19 restrictions on employment made it even more difficult for EAs. Specifically, many young workers lost their job, meanwhile some others are still employed but had significant income loss. The current study examined the impact of job loss and income loss due to COVID-19 on EAs worldwide by collecting data from 2,282 participants across six countries. Guided by the stress appraisal theory and life course theory, we conceptualized COVID-19 as a turning point, which created stressors such as job loss and income loss that disrupted the lives of EAs. We found that stressors such as job loss and income loss are associated with psychological well-being as well as general and future financial well-being. Specifically, this association was mediated by EAs’ primary appraisal, which was indicated by whether they perceived the pandemic as an opportunity or misfortune

Psychometric Qualities of the Educational Identity Processes Scale (EIPS)

CC BY 4.0In the educational domain, the development of identity becomes especially salient during school transition phases. To assess the specific identity processes that match the adolescents’ experiences before and after the school transition, the Educational Identity Processes Scale (EIPS) was developed. The present study aimed to test the psychometric qualities of the EIPS by examining its factor structure, the internal and convergent validity of the identity dimensions, and whether the questionnaire was measurement invariant over time. The pre-transition version was tested in a Dutch sample (N = 242 early adolescents) and the post-transition version was tested in a Lithuanian sample (N = 1,268 mid-adolescents). Findings indicated good psychometric qualities for both the pre- and post-transition versions of the EIPS. Additionally, context dependencies were observed, as distance to the transition influenced the meaning of specific identity processes and determined whether specific processes could be considered as part of normative development

Pozityvi jaunimo raida Lietuvoje

Šioje mokslo studijoje autoriai nagrinėja pozityvios jaunimo raidos mechanizmus ir trajektorijas Lietuvoje bei pozityvios jaunimo raidos skatinimo galimybes, įtraukiant jaunuolius į bendruomenei naudingą veiklą. Teorinė pozityvios jaunimo raidos paradigma, kuria remiamasi šioje studijoje, yra R. Lerner ir kt. (2005) sukurta „5C“ koncepcija. Naudojant longitudinio tyrimo duomenis, pavyko identifikuoti pozityvios jaunimo raidos trajektorijas bei individualius, šeimos ir mokyklos kontekstų veiksnius, susijusius su pozityvia jaunimo raida, t.y. atskleisti pozityvios jaunimo raidos mechanizmus. Kiekvienas šios studijos skyrius skirtas atskiram pozityvios jaunimo raidos teoriniam, metodologiniam arba empiriniam aspektui aptarti. Didelis dėmesys skiriamas bendraamžių, tėvų, mokyklos bei jauno žmogaus asmeninių charakteristikų įtakos individualiai jaunų žmonių raidai analizei. Pateikiama projektą vykdžiusių mokslininkų jaunimo galių stiprinimui sukurta bei įgyvendinta intervencinė programa „Pasimatuok“ savanorystę. Manome, kad ši knyga bus įdomi mokslininkams, tyrinėjantiems paauglius ir jaunimą, praktikams, kuriantiems intervencines programas, skirtas jaunimo galių stiprinimui, o taip pat politikams, siekiantiems pagerinti jaunų žmonių ir jų šeimų galimybes

How culturally unique are pandemic effects? Evaluating cultural similarities and differences in effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on COVID impacts

Despite being bio-epidemiological phenomena, the causes and effects of pandemics are culturally influenced in ways that go beyond national boundaries. However, they are often studied in isolated pockets, and this fact makes it difficult to parse the unique influence of specific cultural psychologies. To help fill in this gap, the present study applies existing cultural theories via linear mixed modeling to test the influence of unique cultural factors in a multi-national sample (that moves beyond Western nations) on the effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on pandemic outcomes that include adverse financial impacts, adverse resource impacts, adverse psychological impacts, and the health impacts of COVID. Our study spanned 19 nations (participant N = 14,133) and involved translations into 9 languages. Linear mixed models revealed similarities across cultures, with both young persons and women reporting worse outcomes from COVID across the multi-national sample. However, these effects were generally qualified by culture-specific variance, and overall more evidence emerged for effects unique to each culture than effects similar across cultures. Follow-up analyses suggested this cultural variability was consistent with models of pre-existing inequalities and socioecological stressors exacerbating the effects of the pandemic. Collectively, this evidence highlights the importance of developing culturally flexible models for understanding the cross-cultural nature of pandemic psychology beyond typical WEIRD approaches