Российский психологический журнал (Apr 2022)
Relationship between Significant Life Events and Experiences in Adolescence
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.
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