Shimmering emerging adulthood: in search of the invariant IDEA model for collectivistic countries.

Emerging adulthood is the youth trajectory characterized by self-focus, identity exploration, feeling between adolescence and adulthood, instability, and experimentation. This trajectory was first identified in industrialized individualistic countries with gender equality and technological progress. To measure transition to adulthood, the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) was created. Although emerging adulthood is considered universal, adaptations of the questionnaire across the 12 countries show different patterns, and its cross-cultural invariance has been underinvestigated. This study tests IDEA in three collectivistic countries - Armenia, China, and Russia. The sample consisted of 868 students (total male - 152, total female - 716) aged 18 to 29 years old. We tested the questionnaire separately in the three countries to check that this model fits, but we failed to prove it. After that we used a factor-analytic approach to find a common version for the three countries. We got a five-factor correlated model in accordance with the theory, but it was reduced from 31 items to 21, and three items moved to other factors. Finally, we provided measurement invariance and reached configural level. To test the narrower facets of factors we used multi-group alignment and found that variances in six parameters differ, mainly in Instability. Despite the difference in the questionnaire items, we proposed a common model for three countries that we called questionnaire IDEA-collectivistic countries (IDEA-CC).

Anxiety and Stress among American, Chinese, Italian, and Russian Emerging Adults: Does Uncertainty Avoidance Matter?

Levels of anxiety and stress vary throughout the lifespan and across cultures. Uncertainty appears particularly relevant during emerging adulthood, thus potentially affecting both stress and anxiety. Uncertainty as a construct was identified by Hofstede (i.e., Uncertainty Avoidance Index, UAI), who defined it as the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and tend to avoid them. The UAI was considered as a means to understand cultures in addition to the "classic" distinction between collectivist and individualistic cultures. The present study compared levels of anxiety and stress in 1790 university students (18-21 years old) from two individualistic (Italy and the US) and two collectivistic (China and Russia) countries, with a consideration of country UAI levels. Results showed that country-level UAI scores were associated with levels of anxiety and stress, controlling for age and sex. Italian and Russian students reported greater anxiety than American and Chinese ones. Chinese emerging adults reported the lowest stress levels, followed by American, Italian, and Russian students. The study findings provide initial evidence that anxiety and stress in emerging adults are associated with how a culture deals with perceived instability and uncertainty about the future.

A new instrument to measure healthy workplace qualities: the People in the Office Scale.

This research is aimed at developing a new instrument to assess the healthy workplace qualities based on the environmental theory of stress, and ideas of salutogenic and biophilic design. A total of 319 respondents participated in the study (19-72 years; Mage = 40.86, SDage = 12.70; 69% women). Additionally, nine judges were invited to evaluate the items of the scale for content validity. Using a mixed inductive/deductive method, which included literature analysis and in-depth interviews, an initial pool of 56 items was collected. From the initial pool of 56 items, the more relevant ones were selected. This list named the People in the Office Scale (POS) was subjected to a full psychometric examination. Results of the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses show that POS has satisfactory structural and content validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across sex and age. In its final form, POS includes 27 items and five subscales: Ergonomics; Internal Communications; External Infrastructure; Freedom of Action; and Workplace as a Life Narrative. Convergent validity measured by correlating POS scores with the variables of restorative environment, workplace attachment, and organizational cynicism was satisfactory. Divergent validity measured by correlating with mental health, was also satisfactory. This new instrument can be recommended for use in both practice and research to provide evidence-based design guidance.

Belief in a just world, perceived control, perceived risk, and hopelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a globally diverse sample.

The purpose of this study was to understand the complex relationships between belief in a just world (BJW), perceived control, perceived risk to self and others, and hopelessness among a globally diverse sample during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The just-world hypothesis suggests that people need to believe in a just world in which they get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Studies have shown that believing in a just world has an adaptive function for individuals. Samples from six countries completed an online questionnaire. A total of 1,250 people participated (934 female) and ages ranged from 16 to 84 years old (M = 36.3, SD = 15.5). The results showed that, when controlling for gender, age, country of residence, and being in a risk group for COVID-19 (e.g., smoker, old age, chronic disease etc.), a stronger personal and general BJW and higher perceived control over the COVID-19 pandemic predicted lower levels of hopelessness. How at-risk participants perceived themselves to be for COVID-19 positively predicted hopelessness, but how risky participants perceived the disease to be for others negatively predicted hopelessness. This study highlights how the distinction between self and others influences hopelessness and how BJW, especially personal BJW, can serve as a psychological resource during times of historic uncertainty. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03172-1.

Measurement Invariance of the Short Home Attachment Scale: A Cross-Cultural Study.

The home environment is a particularly significant part of life that is supposed to satisfy inhabitants' needs, form their identity, and contribute to psychological wellbeing. The construct of home attachment is especially relevant for students as a most mobile social group. This study is devoted to the validation of the Short Home Attachment Scale (SHAS) in a student sample from five countries (Armenia, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Ukraine). A total of 1,349 (17-26 years; Mage = 19.82, SDage = 2.14; 78% females) university students participated in the study and filled in the 14 items of HAS. In order to avoid redundant items with high error covariances damaging the model, a new scale-the SHAS was developed by eliminating seven items. The shortened scale has satisfactory structure validity in terms of model fit in all countries except Indonesia; internal reliability values were acceptable in all countries. Measurement invariance across countries was tested with Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MG CFA) and Alignment Analysis. MG CFA confirmed both configurational and metric invariance. The invariance of item factor loadings, as well as item intercepts, was also confirmed by the Alignment Analysis. The mean scores varied across cultures, with the highest in India and the lowest in Russia. The final version of SHAS is a valid, reliable tool that may be recommended for use in cross-cultural research. However, the SHAS factor structure robustness in the Indonesian population should be investigated thoroughly.

The fear of COVID-19 scale: Its structure and measurement invariance across 48 countries.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been a source of fear around the world. We asked whether the measurement of this fear is trustworthy and comparable across countries. In particular, we explored the measurement invariance and cross-cultural replicability of the widely used Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), testing community samples from 48 countries (N = 14,558). The findings indicate that the FCV-19S has a somewhat problematic structure, yet the one-factor solution is replicable across cultural contexts and could be used in studies that compare people who vary on gender and educational level. The validity of the scale is supported by a consistent pattern of positive correlations with perceived stress and general anxiety. However, given the unclear structure of the FCV-19S, we recommend using latent factor scores, instead of raw scores, especially in cross-cultural comparisons. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Corrigendum: The Authenticity Scale: Validation in Russian Culture.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.609617.].

Validation of the 10-Item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale: The Case of Russian Youth.

This study validates the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) on a Russian youth sample. A total of 689 respondents participated (M age = 20.22, SD age = 2.08; 526 females). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short-Form, the Centre of Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Authenticity Scale were used to examine the content validity of CD-RISC-10. Two hypotheses were examined: that the Russian version of the CD-RISC-10 (1) has structural validity (is unifactorial, as the original version) and (2) has convergent validity (which is proven by positive connections with psychological well-being and negative connections with ill-being). According to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), it was shown that the scale really had a unifactorial structure; its reliability was satisfactory (α =.85, ω h =.84). No age trends in the CD-RISC-10 scores were detected; in males, the scores were higher than in females. As expected, CD-RISC-10 was positively connected with mental well-being, positive affect, self-esteem, and authentic living while negatively connected with depressive symptoms, negative affect, acceptance of external influence, and self-alienation. The Russian version of CD-RISC-10 seems to be a valid, stable, and reliable instrument which may be recommended for use in various areas of research and practice.

The link between individualism-collectivism and life satisfaction among emerging adults from four countries.

The current investigation tested life satisfaction (LS), a cognitive component of subjective well-being, among emerging adults, in the context of individualism (I) and collectivism (C), by distinguishing both cultural and individual levels of analysis, considering their horizontal (H) and vertical (V) dimensions, and controlling age and gender effects. Emerging adults (N = 1760 university students, aged 18-25, Mage  = 19.46, SDag  = 1.50) located across four countries, namely China, Italy, Russia, and the USA, known to differ in the individualism index value (IDV), completed measures on the Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism and Life Satisfaction. At the cultural level, an ANCOVA showed a significant country effects on LS. The post hoc comparisons indicated that the higher the country IDV score, the higher the average LS score, in the following order: Americans, Italians, Russians, and Chinese. At the individual level, LS was unrelated to HI and VI. Instead, it was associated with HC and VC. The positive link between LS and VC suggested an important role of family connectedness on LS across different cultures during emerging adulthood. However, contrary to previous studies, LS was unrelated to HI and VI.

What It Means to Be Oneself: The Everyday Ideas of Authenticity among Primary School Children and Adolescents in Russia.

Background: Personal authenticity is a person's ability to be oneself and coherent in both his/her personality and the circumstances of his/her life (time, place, and life-calling). The sense of one's true self plays an essential role in peoples' psychological well-being and life goals. Currently, the theory of authenticity is included in existential psychology, the person-centered approach, and the psychology of the subject, but all of these approaches have some methodological limitations. Objective: The aim of the current study was to explore the everyday presentations of the true self among the primary school children and adolescents. It was expected that in adolescence, these representations are more differentiated and mature than at an earlier stage of life. Design: In the exploratory research, 330 respondents took part, including 163 primary school children (74 girls, 87 boys, ages 7 to 11; M = 9.4) and 167 adolescents (78 girls, 89 boys, ages 12 to 17; M = 14.3). A special interview consisting of 11 open and closed-ended questions was developed. The inductive method of content analysis was used. Results: Differences were found in the frequencies of the categories used by primary school children and adolescents. Older respondents described their true selves in more detail; their evaluations were more positive and often included their social life as an inseparable part of themselves, whereas descriptions by the younger children were more sparse, ambiguous, and individualistic. Conclusion: The results obtained can help identify the substantial stages of the genesis of the true self. To develop authenticity, these facts should be taken into consideration.

Do Authentic People Care about the Environment? A View from Two Paradigms.

Background: Personal authenticity, the ability to be true to oneself, is traditionally studied from the perspective of its protective role for the individual and is only beginning to be studied in relation to the surrounding world. In this study, we suggest that authentic people may be more aware and concerned about their environment then less authentic people. The theoretical foundations for our work were: the person-centered approach; subject psychology; and modern research on pro-environmental behavior. Objective: We presented our understanding of personal authenticity within Russian subject psychology, developed the standardized instruments necessary for carrying out our main aim, and explored the links between authenticity and pro-environmental behavior in both person-centered and subject psychology. Design: Four hundred thirty (430) Russian students (Mage = 19.19; SDage = 1.22; 79.5% women) participated in the study. Authenticity was measured both bythe revised Russian version of the Authenticity Scale, and a new tool, the Moscow Authenticity Scale, which was developed on the basis of subject psychology. To measure pro-environmental behavior, we created a new instrument called the Ecological Lifestyle Scale, which included Social Activities and Ecological Self-restraint subscales. Results: Using the two new scales, the Moscow Authenticity Scale and the Ecological Lifestyle Scale, along with a modification of the Authenticity Scale, we found that authenticity, considered within the framework of subject psychology, provided a more nuanced picture of the relationship between personal authenticity and pro-environmental behavior than the person-centered model did. Women were more likely to exercise pro-environmental behavior than men; however, the connections between personal authenticity and pro-environmental behavior were stronger in the male group. Conclusion: Authenticity is associated with pro-environmental behavior but does not predict it accurately enough. Future research on moderating or mediating variables is suggested.

If People Are Attached to Plants, Do They Love Other People? Case of the Russian Youth.

People's attachment to the plant world makes a great contribution to the maintenance of psychological well-being. At the same time, little is known regarding the contribution of attitudes to plants to people's morality; the current study is aimed at filling this gap. We assumed that the more positive the attitude to plants is, the higher the level of moral motives is. The survey was conducted on the Russian sample; 257 participants (students from Moscow universities, 199 female, Mage = 21.1, SDage = 2.5) were recruited. The following tools were used: a questionnaire People and Plants (PaP) consisting of five sub-scales (joy, esthetics, practice, closeness to nature, and ecology) and Moral Motives Model scale (MMM scale) including six sub-scales (self-restraint, not harming, social order, self-reliance (industriousness), helping/fairness, and social justice). It was found that all parameters of the positive attitudes to plants, except practice, were strongly positively connected with moral motives. Multi-regression analysis allowed developing certain models demonstrating the contribution of attachment to the plant world to people's morality. The proscriptive motives (especially self-restraint) are more sensitive to attitudes to flora as compared to prescriptive motives; prescriptive motive self-reliance was not predicted by the attitude to flora at all. Moreover, the findings seem to be gender-sensitive (predictions are higher in females). The obtained results are discussed referring to the reverence for life ethics by Schweitzer, deep ecology by Næss, biophilia hypothesis by Wilson, and psychology of moral expansiveness by Crimston et al.

The Authenticity Scale: Validation in Russian Culture.

The correlational study is aimed at validating the Authenticity Scale in Russian culture. Authenticity is considered a trait responsible for a person's ability to be oneself. It helps people resist environment pressure and prevent self-alienation, which contributes to maintaining psychological wellbeing. The original Authenticity Scale includes three subscales: Authentic Living, Accepting External Influence, and Self-Alienation. In total, 2,188 respondents (M age = 26.30, SD age = 13.81; 78.1% female) participated in the survey. The dimensionality of the Authenticity Scale and its measurement invariance across sex, age, and depression rate subgroups was examined with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses; the original tripartite structure was kept. Convergent validity was tested through correlation analyses with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short-Form, the Centre of Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. According to the CFA results, the structure of the Russian version differs from the original one slightly (item 1 was moved from the subscale Authentic Living to the subscale Accepting External Influence and item 4 was excluded); however, the modified factor model showed the best absolute and comparative fit statistics [CFI = 0.961, TLI = 0.949, RMSEA = 0.050 (90% CI [0.40; 0.60]) and SRMR = 0.037]. The reliability (McDonald's Omega) of the Authenticity Scale subscales was satisfactory and ranged from 0.78 to 0.84. It was revealed that youth are more likely to have high scores on Accepting External Influence and Self-Alienation than adults. Men and women did not significantly differ on the sub-scores of Authenticity Scale. Multigroup CFA also showed that Authenticity Scale scores may be biased in people with high levels of clinical depression, in terms of the item intercepts. Authentic Living is positively connected with mental wellbeing, self-esteem, positive affect, satisfaction with life, and negatively with depressive symptoms and negative affect; reverse trends were found for Accepting External Influence and Self-Alienation subscales. The Russian version of the Authenticity Scale is a valid, reliable tool that may be recommended for use in various areas of non-clinical practice.

Subjective Well-Being From a Just-World Perspective: A Multi-Dimensional Approach in a Student Sample.

In a cross-sectional study with N = 627 individuals (M age = 22.8, SD age = 7.3, 147 males, 480 females, 106 non-religious, 456 religious), we investigated personal belief in a just world (BJW) as a resource for undergraduates' subjective well-being and expected a positive relation between both constructs due to recent studies. We not only aimed at replicating but also extending recent findings by investigating a Russian sample, measuring different dimensions of well-being, and considering self-esteem and resilience as potential mediators in the relation of BJW and well-being. We also controlled for confounding effects of age, gender, religiosity, and general BJW. The findings show that personal BJW related to all investigated indicators of well-being (depressive symptoms, positive and negative affect, and mental well-being). Self-esteem mediated all relations between personal BJW and indicators of subjective well-being whereas resilience mediated relations of personal BJW to positive affect and mental well-being. The pattern of results persisted when we controlled for age, gender, religiosity, and general BJW. Our results confirm that the personal BJW world functions as a psychological resource in undergraduate students.

Friendly Home and Inhabitants' Morality: Mutual Relationships.

The study is aimed at investigating the connection between the friendliness of the home environment and the moral motives' level. The friendliness of the home environment includes two aspects: the number of functions provided by home (functionality) and the congruence of these functions with inhabitants' needs (relevance). The theoretical framework of the study was formed by research and ideas emphasizing the interplay between people and their environments. We hypothesized that the friendliness of the home environment and inhabitants' moral motives would have a reciprocal relationship: the friendlier the home the higher the inhabitants' moral motives' level, and, vice versa, the higher the person's moral motives' level the more positive home image. The respondents were 550 students (25% male). The Home Environment Functionality Questionnaire, the Home Environment Relevance Questionnaire, and the Moral Motivation Model Scale were used. As expected, it was found that the friendliness of the home environment and the inhabitants' moral motives are in reciprocal synergetic relationships. Relevance formed more nuanced correlation patterns with moral motives than functionality did. Functionality predicted moral motives poorly whereas moral motives predicted functionality strongly. Finally, relevance and moral motives were found to be in mutual relationships whereas the perceived functionality was predicted by moral motives only.