Negotiating demands of social change in young and middle-aged adults from Poland

Social and economic changes on the societal macro level, such as globalization, pluralization, and demographic shifts, create new demands that produce stress and require behavioral adaptation. In this large-sample correlational study, which replicates a similar study previously conducted in Germany, we investigated how young and middle-aged adults from Poland (N = 2,541) negotiated these demands. Dependent variables were engagement and disengagement strategies as defined by the motivational theory of life span development. By using planned contrasts between engagement (selective primary, selective secondary, and compensatory primary control) and disengagement (compensatory secondary control) in a repeated-measures ANOVA, we found a strong (�2 = .48) preference for engagement over disengagement. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that the engagement and disengagement strategies were only modestly related to sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, employment, and partnership status (.00 < |�| < .13). Primary appraisal of the demands in terms of challenge/threat and gains/losses were correlated with engagement and disengagement (.01 < |�| < .16), but direction and size of the coefficients differed from what was previously found in Germany. Secondary appraisal of the demands in terms of their controllability (.04 < |�| < .21) and the perceived load of demands itself (.12 < |�| < .22) turned out to be the most relevant predictors of the engagement and disengagement strategies. By contrasting these results against earlier findings obtained in Germany, we argue that the differences in how people negotiate social change in the two countries are rooted in their different systems of welfare and social security. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033935 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-92732 Originally published at: Tomasik, Martin J; Silbereisen, Rainer K; Lechner, Clemens M; Wasilewski, Jacek (2013). Negotiating demands of social change in young and middle-aged adults from Poland. International Journal of Stress Management, 20(3):222-253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033935 Negotiating demands 1 Running head: NEGOTIATING SOCIAL CHANGE IN POLAND Negotiating Demands of Social Change in Young and Middle-Aged Adults from Poland Martin J. Tomasik University of Zurich, Switzerland Rainer K. Silbereisen Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany Clemens M. Lechner Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany Jacek Wasilewski Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland Negotiating demands 2 Abstract Social and economic changes on the societal macro level, such as globalization, pluralization, and demographic shifts, create new demands that produce stress and require behavioral adaptation. In this large-sample correlational study, which replicates a similar study previously conducted in Germany, we investigated how young and middle-aged adults from Poland (N = 2,541) negotiated these demands. Dependent variables were engagement and disengagement strategies as defined by the motivational theory of life-span development. By using planned contrasts between engagement (selective primary, selective secondary, and compensatory primary control) and disengagement strategies (compensatory secondary control in terms of self-protection and distancing) in a repeated-measures ANOVA, we found a strong (η =.48) preference for engagement over disengagement. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that the engagement and disengagement strategies were only modestly related to sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, employment, and partnership status (.00 < |β| < .13). Primary appraisal of the demands in terms of challenge/threat and gains/losses were correlated with engagement and disengagement (.01 < |β| < .16) but direction and size of the coefficients differed from what was previously found in Germany. Secondary appraisal of the demands in terms of their controllability (.04 < |β| < .21) and the perceived load of demands itself (.12 < |β| < .22) turned out to be the most relevant predictors of the engagement and disengagement strategies. By contrasting these results against earlier findings obtained in Germany we argue that the differences in how people negotiate social change in the two countries are rooted in their different systems of welfare and social security.Social and economic changes on the societal macro level, such as globalization, pluralization, and demographic shifts, create new demands that produce stress and require behavioral adaptation. In this large-sample correlational study, which replicates a similar study previously conducted in Germany, we investigated how young and middle-aged adults from Poland (N = 2,541) negotiated these demands. Dependent variables were engagement and disengagement strategies as defined by the motivational theory of life-span development. By using planned contrasts between engagement (selective primary, selective secondary, and compensatory primary control) and disengagement strategies (compensatory secondary control in terms of self-protection and distancing) in a repeated-measures ANOVA, we found a strong (η =.48) preference for engagement over disengagement. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that the engagement and disengagement strategies were only modestly related to sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, employment, and partnership status (.00 < |β| < .13). Primary appraisal of the demands in terms of challenge/threat and gains/losses were correlated with engagement and disengagement (.01 < |β| < .16) but direction and size of the coefficients differed from what was previously found in Germany. Secondary appraisal of the demands in terms of their controllability (.04 < |β| < .21) and the perceived load of demands itself (.12 < |β| < .22) turned out to be the most relevant predictors of the engagement and disengagement strategies. By contrasting these results against earlier findings obtained in Germany we argue that the differences in how people negotiate social change in the two countries are rooted in their different systems of welfare and social security.