Personality psychology

Background. Psychological time, a subjective reflection of the objective passage of time, has age specific characteristics and can be considered a resource for adaptation to difficult life situations (Pultz, & Hviid, 2016). We assume that the components of psychological time are also a resource for adaptation to retirement, smoothing out undesirable social and biological changes in retirees’ lives.

Objective. This study explores this hypothesis by identifying the contribution of the cognitive component of psychological time – temporal focus and subjective age – to the effectiveness of late socialization.

Design. The developed theoretical model was verified by the SEM method on the sample of retirees from Chelyabinsk, Russia (N = 291). To collect the empirical data we used the Temporal Focus Scale (Shipp et al., 2009), the Age of Me (Barak, 2009), the Life Satisfaction Scale (Diener & Lucas, 1999), the Income Satisfaction Scale (Deyneka, 2000), and questionnaire variables.

Results. Temporal focus and subjective age mediated the influence of biological and social variables on the retirees’ subjective well-being. A younger subjective age smoothed the contribution of educational level, working status, and disability, whilst the current and future focuses mediated the association between religiosity and various parameters of satisfaction.

Conclusion. The results of the study broaden the understanding of psychological time in late socialization process. A pronounced focus on the present, along with younger subjective age, can be seen as psychological resources, allowing for better adaptation to the social status of a retiree; that is, increasing the effectiveness of late socialization.

Background. Perfectionism and the Impostor Phenomenon (IP) have mainly been studied in American samples, as have the associations of Perfectionism and the Impostor Phenomenon with Self-Esteem and the Big Five personality traits. However, previous studies showed that results might depend on cultural background. There is a critical lack of such research in the Russian context which might limit generalization of the previous findings to a narrow range of cultures.

Objective. In this study, the authors investigated how Perfectionism and the Impostor Phenomenon are related to the 5-factor model of personality, and examined the mediating role of Self-esteem between the dimensions of Perfectionism and the Impostor Phenomenon, using a Russian sample.

Design. The study sample comprised 372 undergraduate students age 18 - 23 (M = 19.07, SD = 1.05). The Impostor Phenomenon, Personality Traits, and Self-Esteem were measured by relevant questionnaires.

Results. The results indicated that Adaptive Perfectionism had a strong positive correlation with Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness. Maladaptive Perfectionism had a strong relation to Conscientiousness and Neuroticism. Neuroticism demonstrated a strong positive correlation with impostor tendencies and was the main predictor. Self-esteem partially mediated the link between Maladaptive Perfectionism and the Impostor Phenomenon, intensifying negative feelings and Impostorism.

Conclusion. These results generally replicated the pattern from previous studies of the relationship between Perfectionism, the Big Five personality traits, Self-esteem, and the Impostor Phenomenon. Thus, it could be possible to conclude that the studied relationships might be regarded as universal for the Russian students in terms of culture.