GENDER-SPECIFIC MEANINGS OF HAPPINESS IN THE VIEWS OF PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AGES

Abstract

Introduction. The article discusses the problem of happiness and some aspects of its study in modern foreign and domestic psychology, including the relationship of happiness with a number of personal characteristics, like age and gender features of its source. Summarize the existing approaches to understanding of essence of the phenomenon of happiness. It justifies importance of the development of the problem of happiness for modern women and men based on their age. Materials and Methods. The authors present the results of a comparative empirical research of gender-specific meanings of the phenomenon of happiness of the subjects of three age groups (early adolescence, early adulthood young and middle adulthood – maturity) total number of 90 people, obtained using the modified variant of the method of semantic differential. Results. The authors traced gender differences and gender similarities in the semantic meaning of the phenomenon of happiness in subjects of different ages. Traced gender differences and gender similarities in the semantic meaning of the phenomenon of happiness, which is characteristic for subjects of different ages, with sufficient variation found to these differences and similarities. The authors found only a single event sustainable in terms of the age dynamics of statistically significant gender differences regarding the semantic similarities of happiness with the government in favor of males. There are some internal contradictions in the system of subjective perceptions of happiness in subjects of different age groups. Discussion and Conclusions. Specific factual material shows the role of differential gender socialization in the formation of personality conceptions of happiness that, according to the findings, most clearly evident in the period of early adulthood. However, along with traditional gender values and standards in some subjects, there are some gender unconventional views, which is a consequence of the impending changes in the content of the dominant in contemporary Russian society the strategy of gender socialization.