Future Orientation (eBook)

Professor Rachel Seginer's research focuses on the development of adolescents and emerging adults. Although her main interest in recent years has focused on future orientation in ecological perspective, her work also examines sibling relationships and parents’ educational involvement and its effect on educational outcomes. Her studies have been published in leading developmental and cross-cultural journals and edited volumes. She serves on the editorial boards of two journals: the Journal of Research on Adolescence and the Journal of Adolescent Research. Professor Seginer received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She is the former Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel, where she is currently teaching developmental and adolescent development courses.

Preface 6
Acknowledgements 11
Contents 13
1 Future Orientation: A Conceptual Framework 17
The Evolvement of Future Orientation Conceptualization 19
Early Psychological Analyses 19
Athematic Approaches to Future Orientation 21
The Thematic Approach 25
The Three Component Model of Future Orientation 30
Four Interfacing Approaches 33
The Motivational Approach: Future Time Perspective 34
The Self Approach: Possible Selves 36
Personality Goal Approaches 39
Personal Dispositions Approaches 42
Summary 43
2 The Evolvement of Future Orientation: Infancy Through Middle Childhood 44
Future Orientation in Infancy 44
Future Orientation in Early Childhood 46
Children's Sense of the Future 47
Two Approaches to Processes Underlying the Development of Future Knowledge 50
Planning Behavior in Early Childhood 52
Socialization of Future Knowledge 55
Future Themes in Children's Literature 57
Future Orientation in Middle Childhood 61
Early Expressions of Hopes and Fears 62
The Construction of Future Hopes and Fears in Middle Childhood 63
Summary: Future Orientation from Infancy to Middle Childhood 75
3 Future Orientation in Personality Contexts 76
Self Esteem and Self Agency 77
The Self: A Conceptual Framework 77
The Effect of the Self on Future Orientation 78
Self-Agency and Future Orientation 79
Self-Stability and Future Orientation 79
Self-Esteem and Future Orientation 80
The Self-Schema of Loneliness 82
Self-Schema 82
Loneliness 82
Loneliness and Future Orientation 83
Loneliness and Future Orientation: Summary 86
Psychological Empowerment 86
Psychological Empowerment and Future Orientation: The Case of Israeli Arab Girls 87
The Cultural Context of Psychological Empowerment and Future Orientation 91
Summary: Psychological Empowerment and Future Orientation 92
Defensive Pessimism and Strategic Optimism 93
Defensive Pessimism 93
Strategic Optimism 94
Strategies and Dispositions 95
Future Orientation and Defensive Pessimism 95
Primary and Secondary Control Orientations 97
Primary and Secondary Control: Conceptual Framework 97
Cultural Contexts 99
Primary and Secondary Control and Future Orientation 101
Cognitive Abilities and Future Orientation 103
Summary: The Effect of Self and Personality on Future Orientation 104
4 Future Orientation Sex Differences 106
Sex Differences: Their Extent, Origins and Underlying Processes 106
Evolutionary Psychology 107
Social Role Theory 108
The Gender Similarity Approach 110
Socialization of Gender Roles 110
Future Orientation Sex Differences and Gender Similarities 111
Theory Based Predictions 112
Gender Effects on the Themes and Extension of Future Orientation 113
Future Orientation Sex Differences: Recent Findings 126
The Cultural Context of Sex Differences 127
The Hoped For and Feared Future of Transition to Modernity Girls: The Case of Israeli Arab and Druze Girls 129
Future Orientation Motivational and Behavioral Components Gender Differences 133
Summary 137
5 The Effect of Parenting on Future Orientation 139
Family Atmosphere, Parenting and Future Orientation 140
Early Studies on the Effect of Parenting on Adolescent Future Orientation 140
Positive Parenting and Future Orientation 141
The Positive Parenting Multiple Step Model 143
The Five-Step Model of Future Orientation Parenting 144
Empirical Estimates of the Model 146
Future Orientation Multi-Step Model in Cultural Context 148
Parents Beliefs and Adolescents Future Orientation 151
Empirical Studies 152
Parents' Beliefs and Adolescents' Future Orientation: Summary 155
Intergenerational Transmission of Future Orientation 156
The German Setting 156
The Italian Setting 156
The Finnish Setting 157
The Israeli Setting 157
Summary 158
The Three-Component Model: Parent-Adolescent Correspondence 158
Parents as Models 160
The Meaning of Parent-Child Congruence 160
Summary: How Parents Facilitate the Construction of Future Orientation 161
6 The Effect of Contemporaries: Siblings and Peers 162
Adolescent Sibling Relationship 162
The Effect of Sibling Relationship on Adolescents Future Orientation 164
Adolescent Peer Relations 167
The Effect of Peer Relationship on Adolescent Future Orientation 168
The Future Orientation of Classmates 171
Peer Influence: What Adolescents Do and Report 174
Summary 176
7 Future Orientation Outcomes 177
Future Orientation and Academic Achievement 177
The Underlying Rationale: Perceived Instrumentality 178
Future Orientation and Academic Achievement Links: Empirical Analyses 180
Future Orientation and Two Developmental Tasks: Identity and Intimacy 185
Identity 185
The Relations Between Future Orientation and Identity 186
Future Orientation and Identity Links: Empirical Evidence 187
Intimacy 192
Future Orientation and Intimacy Links: Empirical Evidence 193
Summary 194
Future Orientation and Adjustment to Developmental Transitions 195
Emerging Adults' Adjustment to Military Service 195
Midlife Adjustment to Early Retirement: The Case of Non-Commissioned Officers 199
Summary 200
8 Summary, Conclusions and Future Directions for Research and Action 202
Recapitulation: Future Orientation in Light of Five Main Issues 202
The Five Issues 202
The Conceptual Issue: Future Orientation and Interfacing Approaches 203
The Developmental Issue: A Case of Non-continuous Indicators 206
The Personality Issue: The Role of the Self and Other Personality Characteristics 210
The Interpersonal Relationships Issue: The Effect of Parents, Siblings and Peers 211
The Cultural Context Issue: Does Culture Matter? 213
Directions for Future Research 216
Theory into Practice: Turning Hopes into Plans and Plans into Outcomes 217
Theory into Practice: A Generic Scheme of Linking Future Hopes to Present Behavior 219
In Conclusion 221
References 222
Appendix 251
Future Orientation Questionnaires 251
Future Orientation Questionnaire 252
Prospective Life Course Questionnaire 253
Future Work and Career 254
Marriage and Family 257
My Future Hopes 260
My Future Fears 261
Coding Instructions for the Hopes and Fears Questionnaire 262
Index 264