Jeffrey J. Arnett’s Concept of Emerging Adulthood as an Extended Liminal Phase of the Rite of Passage

The article includes a comparison of the developmental stage spreading between adolescence and early adulthood recently called after Jeffrey J. Arnette (2004, 2007) the emerging adulthood, to the liminal phase of the rite of passage first enunciated by Arnold van Gennep (1909/2006) and Victor Turner (2005). According to the formulated thesis it is stated that the stage of emerging adulthood, treated in contemporary western psychology as a new developmental stage, characteristic for hi-tech societies, is a far and residual equivalent of the liminal (marginal) phase of the rite of passage, in its extended form. Both the society of participants of this ritual in its liminal phase, called by Turner communitas, and the society of young people entering adulthood, are characterised mainly by the feeling of “being in-between”. Both those social groups have left behind the previous stage, yet not reached the new one. After presenting the concept of the rite of passage consisting of three phases, together with the idea of liminality linked to it, the contemporary phenomenon of extending the psychosocial moratorium and the concept of Arnette’s emerging adulthood, there is an analysis of the similarities and differences between the liminal phase and the stage of emerging adulthood. The latter of the phenomena is closely linked to the specificity of western culture (such as degradation and disappearance of rites of passage in their traditional forms, orientation towards consumption and hedonism), and seems to have its source in the psychic qualities of young people such as i.e. the lack of readiness to take up the responsibility for others and to take care of them.

Attachment style and partner relationships in early adulthood

Attachment is the basis for the creation of close interpersonal relationships. The destination of the analysis was to identify whether there is a link between attachment style and partner relationships and to determine whether factors such as: a form of relationship, gender, length of relationship, education, having children, number of previous relationships are important to the quality of relationships and the attachment partners’s style.

The study involved 120 people (marriage, engagement, cohabitation). Used “The Intimacy, Passion, Commitment Questionnaire” by Acker and Davis (1992, Wojciszke, 2005) expanded by an additional scale of “satisfaction from the relationship,” Partner Relations Questionnaire” by Kurt Hahlweg and “The Attatchment Style Questionnaire” for Mieczysław Plopa.

The results showed that the attachment style of partners is important for their relationship. It was found that the form and length of relationship, number of previous partners, children, education and gender are important for some relationship partners. The form of relationship and number of previous partners are also important for the secure attachment style. The obtained data showed that the attachment styles affect the quality of relationships.

Attachment style and partner relationships in early adulthood

In the presented study I examined the role of women’s attachment styles at different family development stages for their quality of life. A study involving 180 women in the stages of: engagement, marriage bond formation and the development of parenting styles was conducted. The Attachment Styles Questionnaire by M. Plopa and Satisfaction with Life Scale SWLS in the adaptation of Z. Juczyński were used in the study.

Statistical analysis showed the women’s attachment style correlates with satisfaction with life at all stages of family development. The growing importance of the secure attachment style in different stages of development was noted. Avoidant attachment style was associated with satisfaction with life among the brides, and women in the phase of parental attitudes development. Ambivalent attachment style is negatively correlated with satisfaction with life only during the phase of the marital bond development.

The conditions of the lack of a lifetime partner in young adult singles’ perception

The research field of this paper are the conditions of the lack of a lifetime partner in young adulthood. This research so called narrative-biographical interviews designed by Schütze was conducted with 36 participants not having partners (22 women and 14 men) in the age of 21–30 years. The foundation of the analysis was (1) Schütze’s narrative analysis and (2) hermeneutic analysis of autonarration used in the Bartosz’s research over motherhood. In the result of analysis participants’ responses were grouped into six categories of reasons for being single. Referring to respondents’ language they were called as follows: (1) “I haven’t met the right person yet”, (2) “I need time to recover from the break up”, (3) “My shyness stands in the way”, (4) “He/she doesn’t want me”, (5) “I’m a loner”, (6) “I work a lot”. The research results let us formulate the following general conclusions: (1) young adults indicate various reasons for being singled and which are of external and internal character and (2) in most cases young adults admit that it is hard to identify only one reason for singlehood which is often the consequence of many tangled circumstances.

Theory of mind and cold versus hot executive functions in preschool-aged children

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the ability to represent mental states and the development of cold versus hot executive functions (EF) in preschool-aged children. The participants were a group of 44 children between the ages from 3 to 4 years. There were used false-belief tasks (Gopnik & Astington 1988; Wimmer & Perner 1983) as the measures of theory of mind (ToM) development, Dimensional Change Card Sort (Frye et al. 1995) as a measure of cool EF, and The Children’s Gambling Task (Kerr & Zelazo 2004) as a measure of hot EF. Considering the whole group of children, it was found a stronger relationship between the level of ToM and cold EF comparing to hot EF. But data obtained in the age groups indicated the differences in the pattern of correlations. The level of ToM was stronger connected to the cold EF in the group of 4-year-olds, but in the group of 3-year-olds there was a trend towards the stronger relationship between ToM and hot EF. The implications of the results for the problem of relation between the development of ToM and processes of conscious control of thought and action are discussed.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the ability to represent mental states and the development of cold versus hot executive functions (EF) in preschool-aged children. The participants were a group of 44 children between the ages from 3 to 4 years. There were used false-belief tasks (Gopnik & Astington 1988; Wimmer & Perner 1983) as the measures of theory of mind (ToM) development, Dimensional Change Card Sort (Frye et al. 1995) as a measure of cool EF, and The Children’s Gambling Task (Kerr & Zelazo 2004) as a measure of hot EF. Considering the whole group of children, it was found a stronger relationship between the level of ToM and cold EF comparing to hot EF. But data obtained in the age groups indicated the differences in the pattern of correlations. The level of ToM was stronger connected to the cold EF in the group of 4-year-olds, but in the group of 3-year-olds there was a trend towards the stronger relationship between ToM and hot EF. The implications of the results for the problem of relation between the development of ToM and processes of conscious control of thought and action are discussed.
 

Executive functions in older adults of various level of educational needs
In old age the decrease of cognitive performance connected with natural ageing processes is observed. The deterioration primarily affects memory and attention functions (Jagodzińska, 2008; Oberauer, 2006). It was indicated that the level of cognitive competences is strongly connected with learning (Brooks, Weaver, Scialfa, 2006). People in old age who are more intellectually active have less problems in cognitive functioning (Jagodzińska, 2008).
The article presents results of studies conducted to verify hypothesis concerning the relation between the level of educational needs and efficiency of their executive functions. 25 people, aged 71-88, participated in the study. Educational needs and four aspects of executive functions: plasticity, inhibition, working memory and planning were measured. Results confirms the relationship between educational needs of seniors and two aspects of executive functions: plasticity and working memory, while the most significant relations concerns plasticity.
 

Czym jest semiotyka? Sprawozdanie z X Światowego Kongresu Semiotyki “Culture of Communication, Communication of Culture” La Coruña, Hiszpania, 22-26 września 2009

RECENZJA

Sign Bilingualism: Language development, interaction, and maintenance in sign language contact situations, Carolina Plaza-Pust, Esperanza Morales-López (red.), John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/Philadelphia, (2008)