Lars Tornstam’s Gerotrascendence Theory as the positive ageing theory

Elderly people are not a homogeneous group in terms of their adaptation to aging degree. Most often, the optimal adaptation is when an elder person has a high life satisfaction, confidence in oneself and others, as well as effectively copes with tasks attributable to the period of late adulthood. There are many theories explaining the process of adaptation to old age. One of them is the concept of gerotranscendence by Lars Tornstam developed mainly in the Nordic countries. This proposal is the cognitively valuable and inspiring concept of the positive aging. It allows to esentialise the aging process and look at an elderly person in a new way. The article presents the theoretical background of the gerotranscendence theory, its main objectives and main research directions.

The factor influence and the severity of depressive symptoms among women in early adulthood

The biological changes in adolescence among girls are the basis for the emergence of depressive symptoms, however these symptoms can also be a consequence of a negative body self formation. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between experiencing their own body self (manifested in the experience of intimate relations with the men, acceptance of one’s body, attitude towards eating and body weight, disclosure of femininity), attachment styles, age ofonset of menarche, BMI, occurrence of mental illness in family and severity of depressive symptoms among women aged 18-25 years, and to determine the impact of these variables on the severity of depressive symptoms. The results show a weak relationship between age ofonset of menarche and the level of acceptance of one’s body and disclosure of femininity. Moreover, a moderate relationship exists between age ofonset of menarche and the severity of depressive symptoms, and between the strength of body self and the severity of depressive symptoms and attachment styles. Predictors of depressive symptoms are: low acceptance of one’s body, anxiety - ambivalent attachment style and the occurrence of mental illness in family.

Previous research on shaping the value structure in childhood was based on the classical model by Schwartz (1992) and was conducted by means of the ipsative picture method developed by Döring et al. (2010). The research presented in this article was built on the developmental interpretation of Schwartz’s theory, but used a new method: Animated Best-Worst Survey for Children (ABWS-C) developed by Collins and Lee and used by Collins (2013). This measurement instrument (1) contains indicators of values in the form of several-second animations that are chosen by children as most and least preferable; (2) is based on the refined value model proposed by Schwartz et al. (2012) and (3) overcomes the problems with ipsativity (which emerged in Döring et al.’s method, 2010) by applying the best-worst scaling approach. This article presents the results of a research study on value structure in a group of children aged from 7 to 11, obtained by using the Polish adaptation of the ABWS-C. It turned out that the values from both the classical and the refined catalog form a circular structure with four higher order values and that the order of all values is as predicted by the models (with some exceptions). Finally, the consequences of the research on value structure and the significance of the obtained results are discussed.

Building a long lasting intimate relationship is one of the basic and fundamental tassks of early adulthood (Erikson 1997, 2004; Havighurst 1981; Levinson, Darrow, Klein, 1978). Nowadays an increasing number of people are postponing their entry into relationships or are choosing to live their lives as singles. This poses the question of why young people are not forming lasting romantic relationships and the research presented here is part of a broader research which is trying to uncover the reasons why people are choosing not to enter into lasting intimate relationships and choose to remain single.

      The goal of the research presented here was to identify the relationship between the degree of closeness perceived in the relationships with their parents during childhood and adolescence and the current commitment to others and experiences of intimacy experienced by young adults. We were interested in whether people living in relationships and those living alone would differ in terms of the factors identified and what precisely was the relationship between them. In addition we attempted to identify if the feelings of closeness felt towards parents and the experience of commitment and intimacy with those close to them translated into an assessment of its quality and whether there were differences depending on gender.

431 individuals participated in the research aged between 23 and 37 (M= 29,65  ; SD= 4,29 ). 217 women were studied (M=29,62; SD=4,35) and  214 men (M= 29,67 ; SD= 4,24).  Those in relationships constituted 46% , and those living alone numbered 54 % of the group studied. The analysis indicated a relationship between the degree of closeness with parents and the feeling of intimacy with one’s partner which in turn had an impact on the perceived quality of the relationship. A relation was also observed between closeness to parents, intimacy and commitment to those closest to the subjects.