Positive and negative paradigms of personal functioning and development in the pre-retirement and retirement ages

Abstract

The presented article is devoted to the problem of identifying and describing life paradigms in old age. The theoretical part shows the advantages of the paradigmatic approach in gerontopsychological research. The value of its variability is emphasized, when paradigms can be changed, modified or evaluated in accordance with established personal meanings and values. The theoretical part also analyzes the existing models of life paradigms in late ontogenesis. Special attention is paid to paradigms that include a victimological context. It is shown that foreign paradigms, in particular, the paradigms of yoga and the "American dream" cannot be successfully implemented into Russian culture due to value contradictions. It is noted that the least studied element of life paradigms are the principles of life, which have become the subject of study in the empirical part of the study. Biographical, autobiographical and meaningful content analysis were used as research methods. The material of the analysis was the content of forums on the Internet dedicated to the problems of the elderly, the participants of which were pre-retirees and pensioners. The scientific novelty of the study consists in identifying and describing the basic and particular life principles that make up the positive and negative paradigms in later life. Thus, such general principles as concreteness, anticipativeness, variability, priority, anxiety, vulnerability, responsibility, forgiveness, etc. were formulated. It is concluded that the positive paradigm in old age is an anti–victim paradigm, that is, a behavior model based on the anti-victim Self-concept that ensures the safety of the individual in old age, and an ineffective one is victimized, contributing to the transformation of an elderly person into a victim of circumstances, primarily subjective. Life paradigms in old age should change with changes in living conditions and health conditions. The paradigmatic principles differ depending on gender.