Optimisation by Selection and Compensation: Balancing Primary and Secondary Control in Life Span Development

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Heckhausen ◽  
Richard Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Course Management ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Secondary Control ◽  
Life Span Development ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
Primary And Secondary Control

Individuals as producers of their own life span development are discussed with regard to the major challenges, opportunities, and constraints encountered over the life course. Major challenges of life span development and human behaviour include the need to be selective in choosing life course paths, and the failure proneness of human behaviour. Management mechanisms directed at these challenges can be identified on the societal and the individual level. Socio-structural regulations of life course selectivity and failure are viewed as constraining but also supporting individual life course management. Individual life course management is conceptualised in terms of the model of optimisation by selection and compensation, which is elaborated by applying the life span model of primary and secondary control developed by Heckhausen and Schulz. The integrated model conceptualises optimisation as a higher-order process regulating selection and compensation, so that the long-term potential for primary control is promoted. Primary and secondary control strategies are identified for both selection and compensation, thus yielding four types of life-management strategies. Finally, it is argued that selection and compensation are not adaptive in and of themselves and may become dysfunctional when impairing the long-term potential for primary control.

Quality of Life in Adolescence: The Role of Perceived Control, Parenting Style, and Social Support

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fausta Petito ◽  
Robert A. Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Parenting Style ◽  
Perceived Control ◽  
Marked Change ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Secondary Control ◽  
Primary And Secondary Control ◽  
Homeostatic System

AbstractAdult levels of subjective quality of life (SQOL) are remarkably stable on a population basis. This has been explained through the operation of a homeostatic system that acts to maintain each individual's SQOL within a narrow range. However, there are good reasons to expect this homeostatic system to come under severe challenge during adolescence. Many of the variables thought to be involved in the homeostatic process are undergoing marked change during this period, including the balance between primary and secondary control, perceived social support, and interaction with parents. In order to test the stability of SQOL and the influence of these other variables, a sample of 279 adolescents between the ages of 12 to 17 years were recruited. It was found that the SQOL of the older adolescents lay below the predicted range for adults, thereby supporting the idea of a strong challenge to homeostasis during this period. A new scale to measure perceived control was found to possess a useful two-factor structure of primary and secondary control. Moreover, both of these factors, together with social support, predicted levels of SQOL, even though the levels of primary control decreased with age. Finally, adolescents who perceived an authoritarian parenting style experienced a higher SQOL than those who perceived an unengaged style. These findings contribute to our understanding of SQOL homeostasis.

Life-Span Learning: A Developmental Perspective

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Life Span Development ◽  
Development And Aging ◽  
The Life Course

The article discusses learning as embedded processes of development and aging, and as social activity over the life course. The concept of life-span learning is proposed and outlined to discuss these processes as aspects of and propositions in life-span development and aging theory. Life-span learning processes arise and continuously develop in a dynamically complex body, brain, and the mind they support as essential features of development and aging over the life course. Life-span learning processes are established by evolutionary adaptive mechanisms, enriched by challenging environments, and continuously developed in supportive social structures. These ideas are derived from evolutionary biology and psychology, the cognitive sciences, life-span development and aging research, and adult development and learning studies. It is argued that life-span learning activities that challenge the body-mind-brain nexus are indispensable to optimize individual development and aging. Three global interventions and their strategies are discussed that enhance life-span learning: Learning to Learn, Learning for Growth, and Learning for Well-being.

scholarly journals Adolescent Control Beliefs: Cross-cultural Variations of Primary and Secondary Orientations

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Seginer ◽  
Gisela Trommsdorff ◽  
Cecilia Essau
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Control Beliefs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Secondary Control ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Double Transition ◽  
Primary And Secondary Control ◽  
Mediation Hypothesis

This article reports of two studies addressing the meaning of primary and secondary control beliefs for transition to modernity and modern adolescents. Study 1 participants (N = 365) were Malaysian (transition to modernity), and German and North American (modern) adolescents. Study 2 participants ( N = 757) were Israeli Druze (transition to modernity) and Israeli Jewish (modern) adolescents. The control beliefs scales employed in the two studies drew from the primary-secondary control beliefs conceptualisation (Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982), shared a similar Likert-type item structure, but differed in operationalisation. Analyses tested two hypotheses: (1) the value mediation hypothesis postulated that transition to modernity adolescents will score higher on secondary control beliefs and modern adolescents will score higher on primary control beliefs; (2) the double transition hypothesis postulated that transition to modernity adolescents will score higher on both primary and secondary control beliefs. Results supported these hypotheses only partly. However, they did show clearly that transition to modernity adolescents endorsed secondary control beliefs more strongly than did modem adolescents. The discussion focuses on possible explanations of inconsistent results. It also suggests that future research should address two issues brought to light: the adaptive value of primary and secondary control beliefs; and the explanatory value of different control types. Both should be studied in historical, developmental, and cultural contexts.

scholarly journals Longitudinal and Age-Related Implications of Primary and Secondary Control for Happiness

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 253-254
Author(s):  
Masahiro Toyama
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Secondary Control ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Primary And Secondary Control ◽  
Different Ages

Abstract While previous research addressed two distinct types of happiness, including hedonia and eudaimonia, the longitudinal associations of primary and secondary control with these happiness constructs had not been fully studied. The present study aimed to contribute to the literature by examining these associations and their age differences. Using data from the second and third waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS; N = 4,963, aged 28 to 84 at baseline), the present study conducted structural equation modeling analyses to examine whether primary and secondary control predicted residualized changes over around a decade in the latent constructs of hedonia and eudaimonia and whether there were age differences in these associations. The results indicate that while only primary control predicted change in eudaimonia overall, the associations of primary and secondary control with changes in hedonia and eudaimonia differed by age. Particularly, in comparing these effects for younger and older individuals, primary control predicted increases in eudaimonia only for younger individuals, whereas secondary control predicted decreases in hedonia for younger individuals but predicted increases in eudaimonia for older individuals. Considering these findings, the importance of primary and secondary control for happiness may vary between adults of different ages, which is possibly due to their life priorities that may change with age. The present study suggested potential directions of future research further examining the role of primary and secondary control for happiness and exploring potential interventions to promote happiness, for example, by modifying primary and/or secondary control for adults of different ages.

Review of Life-Span Development.

1996 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-395
Author(s):  
Terri Gullickson ◽  
Pamela Ramser
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Life Span Development
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