Mastering developmental transitions in young and middle adulthood: The interplay of openness to experience and traditional gender ideology on women's self-efficacy and subjective well-being.

Abstract

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 49(1) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2013-00166-002). In the article, Study 2 is mistakenly described as a 9-month longitudinal study. However, this study covered 11 months.] The present research focuses on 2 factors that might help or hurt women to cope with the uncertainties associated with developmental transitions in modern societies (i.e., starting one's first job, graduating from high school, reentry to work after parental leave). We investigate (a) the role of openness to experience in coping with challenging transitions and (b) the (mal)adaptive consequences of adopting a traditional gender ideology. Starting with the assumption that transitional uncertainty has different consequences for women high or low in openness to experience, a first experiment (N = 61; 18-30 years) demonstrated that self-efficacy and well-being decrease after being confronted with transitional uncertainty among women low in openness. Two longitudinal studies investigated the (mal)adaptive consequences of adopting a traditional gender ideology for women high or low in openness in dealing with challenging transitions. Study 2 examined whether endorsing or rejecting traditional gender role beliefs might help female (but not male) students to maintain a sense of selfefficacy and subjective well-being during the transition of graduating from high school (N = 520, 17-22 years). Study 3 (N = 297; 20-53 years) tested the same model for women in middle adulthood during the transition from parental leave to reentry into work life. For both studies, latent growth analyses showed that endorsing traditional gender role beliefs contributed to self-efficacy and subjective well-being among women low in openness. By contrast, for women high in openness, rejecting traditional gender role beliefs had a positive effect on their relative level of self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Functions of ideologies in the context of challenging transitions are discussed.

The Role of Age and Social Motivation in Developmental Transitions in Young and Old Adulthood

“…Caspi and Moffitt (1993) propose that individual differences tend to be magnified when persons experience profound discontinuities in their lives. Preexisting cognitive schemas exert a powerful and pervasive influence on our interpretation of new experiences by helping us categorize and organize the changing events around us (see also Weiss et al, 2012). Caspi and Moffitt conclude that individual differences are most likely accentuated during transitions into new situations that are characterized by unpredictability, when there is a press to behave but no information about how to behave in a socially adequate way.…”

The Impact of Life Transition on Emerging Adult Attachment, Social Support, and Well‐Being: A Multiple‐Group Comparison

“…It is normative for emerging adults in industrialized nations to graduate high school, attain residential independence, enter and leave college, form and negotiate intimate relationships, and begin career life (Arnett, ). Although each of these transitions represent important developmental tasks, they also necessitate life and role changes amidst an uncertain future (Weiss et al, ).…”

“…A growing body of literature has been devoted to the mental health challenges associated with life transitions in emerging adulthood (EA; i.e., a phase describing individuals in industrialized nations between the ages of 18 and 29; e.g., Lane, ; Lane & Fink, ; Lee & Gramotnev, ; Weiss, Freund, & Wiese, ). The normative transitions during this time (e.g., leaving the parental household) disrupt life roles and promote psychological distress.…”

The Role of Hope and Self-efficacy on Nurses’ Subjective Well-being

“…High self-efficacy is related to high SWB and good physical condition, while low self-efficacy is related to low SWB and depression (Weiss, Freund, & Wiese, 2012). People tend to avoid activities that they cannot handle, and involved in situations that they can cope with.…”