Shimmering emerging adulthood: in search of the invariant IDEA model for collectivistic countries.

Emerging adulthood is the youth trajectory characterized by self-focus, identity exploration, feeling between adolescence and adulthood, instability, and experimentation. This trajectory was first identified in industrialized individualistic countries with gender equality and technological progress. To measure transition to adulthood, the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) was created. Although emerging adulthood is considered universal, adaptations of the questionnaire across the 12 countries show different patterns, and its cross-cultural invariance has been underinvestigated. This study tests IDEA in three collectivistic countries - Armenia, China, and Russia. The sample consisted of 868 students (total male - 152, total female - 716) aged 18 to 29 years old. We tested the questionnaire separately in the three countries to check that this model fits, but we failed to prove it. After that we used a factor-analytic approach to find a common version for the three countries. We got a five-factor correlated model in accordance with the theory, but it was reduced from 31 items to 21, and three items moved to other factors. Finally, we provided measurement invariance and reached configural level. To test the narrower facets of factors we used multi-group alignment and found that variances in six parameters differ, mainly in Instability. Despite the difference in the questionnaire items, we proposed a common model for three countries that we called questionnaire IDEA-collectivistic countries (IDEA-CC).

A new instrument to measure healthy workplace qualities: the People in the Office Scale.

This research is aimed at developing a new instrument to assess the healthy workplace qualities based on the environmental theory of stress, and ideas of salutogenic and biophilic design. A total of 319 respondents participated in the study (19-72 years; Mage = 40.86, SDage = 12.70; 69% women). Additionally, nine judges were invited to evaluate the items of the scale for content validity. Using a mixed inductive/deductive method, which included literature analysis and in-depth interviews, an initial pool of 56 items was collected. From the initial pool of 56 items, the more relevant ones were selected. This list named the People in the Office Scale (POS) was subjected to a full psychometric examination. Results of the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses show that POS has satisfactory structural and content validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across sex and age. In its final form, POS includes 27 items and five subscales: Ergonomics; Internal Communications; External Infrastructure; Freedom of Action; and Workplace as a Life Narrative. Convergent validity measured by correlating POS scores with the variables of restorative environment, workplace attachment, and organizational cynicism was satisfactory. Divergent validity measured by correlating with mental health, was also satisfactory. This new instrument can be recommended for use in both practice and research to provide evidence-based design guidance.

The link between individualism-collectivism and life satisfaction among emerging adults from four countries.

The current investigation tested life satisfaction (LS), a cognitive component of subjective well-being, among emerging adults, in the context of individualism (I) and collectivism (C), by distinguishing both cultural and individual levels of analysis, considering their horizontal (H) and vertical (V) dimensions, and controlling age and gender effects. Emerging adults (N = 1760 university students, aged 18-25, Mage  = 19.46, SDag  = 1.50) located across four countries, namely China, Italy, Russia, and the USA, known to differ in the individualism index value (IDV), completed measures on the Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism and Life Satisfaction. At the cultural level, an ANCOVA showed a significant country effects on LS. The post hoc comparisons indicated that the higher the country IDV score, the higher the average LS score, in the following order: Americans, Italians, Russians, and Chinese. At the individual level, LS was unrelated to HI and VI. Instead, it was associated with HC and VC. The positive link between LS and VC suggested an important role of family connectedness on LS across different cultures during emerging adulthood. However, contrary to previous studies, LS was unrelated to HI and VI.

What It Means to Be Oneself: The Everyday Ideas of Authenticity among Primary School Children and Adolescents in Russia.

Background: Personal authenticity is a person's ability to be oneself and coherent in both his/her personality and the circumstances of his/her life (time, place, and life-calling). The sense of one's true self plays an essential role in peoples' psychological well-being and life goals. Currently, the theory of authenticity is included in existential psychology, the person-centered approach, and the psychology of the subject, but all of these approaches have some methodological limitations. Objective: The aim of the current study was to explore the everyday presentations of the true self among the primary school children and adolescents. It was expected that in adolescence, these representations are more differentiated and mature than at an earlier stage of life. Design: In the exploratory research, 330 respondents took part, including 163 primary school children (74 girls, 87 boys, ages 7 to 11; M = 9.4) and 167 adolescents (78 girls, 89 boys, ages 12 to 17; M = 14.3). A special interview consisting of 11 open and closed-ended questions was developed. The inductive method of content analysis was used. Results: Differences were found in the frequencies of the categories used by primary school children and adolescents. Older respondents described their true selves in more detail; their evaluations were more positive and often included their social life as an inseparable part of themselves, whereas descriptions by the younger children were more sparse, ambiguous, and individualistic. Conclusion: The results obtained can help identify the substantial stages of the genesis of the true self. To develop authenticity, these facts should be taken into consideration.

Do Authentic People Care about the Environment? A View from Two Paradigms.

Background: Personal authenticity, the ability to be true to oneself, is traditionally studied from the perspective of its protective role for the individual and is only beginning to be studied in relation to the surrounding world. In this study, we suggest that authentic people may be more aware and concerned about their environment then less authentic people. The theoretical foundations for our work were: the person-centered approach; subject psychology; and modern research on pro-environmental behavior. Objective: We presented our understanding of personal authenticity within Russian subject psychology, developed the standardized instruments necessary for carrying out our main aim, and explored the links between authenticity and pro-environmental behavior in both person-centered and subject psychology. Design: Four hundred thirty (430) Russian students (Mage = 19.19; SDage = 1.22; 79.5% women) participated in the study. Authenticity was measured both bythe revised Russian version of the Authenticity Scale, and a new tool, the Moscow Authenticity Scale, which was developed on the basis of subject psychology. To measure pro-environmental behavior, we created a new instrument called the Ecological Lifestyle Scale, which included Social Activities and Ecological Self-restraint subscales. Results: Using the two new scales, the Moscow Authenticity Scale and the Ecological Lifestyle Scale, along with a modification of the Authenticity Scale, we found that authenticity, considered within the framework of subject psychology, provided a more nuanced picture of the relationship between personal authenticity and pro-environmental behavior than the person-centered model did. Women were more likely to exercise pro-environmental behavior than men; however, the connections between personal authenticity and pro-environmental behavior were stronger in the male group. Conclusion: Authenticity is associated with pro-environmental behavior but does not predict it accurately enough. Future research on moderating or mediating variables is suggested.

Friendly Home and Inhabitants' Morality: Mutual Relationships.

The study is aimed at investigating the connection between the friendliness of the home environment and the moral motives' level. The friendliness of the home environment includes two aspects: the number of functions provided by home (functionality) and the congruence of these functions with inhabitants' needs (relevance). The theoretical framework of the study was formed by research and ideas emphasizing the interplay between people and their environments. We hypothesized that the friendliness of the home environment and inhabitants' moral motives would have a reciprocal relationship: the friendlier the home the higher the inhabitants' moral motives' level, and, vice versa, the higher the person's moral motives' level the more positive home image. The respondents were 550 students (25% male). The Home Environment Functionality Questionnaire, the Home Environment Relevance Questionnaire, and the Moral Motivation Model Scale were used. As expected, it was found that the friendliness of the home environment and the inhabitants' moral motives are in reciprocal synergetic relationships. Relevance formed more nuanced correlation patterns with moral motives than functionality did. Functionality predicted moral motives poorly whereas moral motives predicted functionality strongly. Finally, relevance and moral motives were found to be in mutual relationships whereas the perceived functionality was predicted by moral motives only.