The Transformation of a Person’s Life Plans in Mature Age

Abstract

Introduction. There is a dual view about the orientation of transformation of life plans in people of mature age: on the one hand, the personality goes beyond the old structures, revealing its potential for the sake of further development; on the other hand, there is the risk of a motivational crisis associated with a change in the trajectory of personality development. Our research is designed to deepen and concretize ideas about the orientation and motivation of human life plans’ transformation at different stages of maturity. Purpose. The study of the peculiarities of motivation for the life plans’ transformation in mature age.Materials and methods. In this study, 4 tests were applied: The Diagnostics of Motivational Structure of Personality test by V. E. Milman, the Index of Aspirations test by E. Desi and R. Ryan (adapted by Yu. A. Kotelnikova), the Morphological Test of Life Values (MTLV) by V. F. Sopov, L. V. Karpushina, Test for Assessing the Life and Time Prospects of a Person by N. I. Nikolskaya. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used for statistical analysis of the obtained data.Results. The study involved 160 people aged 35–55. We found out that respondents’ motivational priorities differ in general orientation – representatives of early maturity are oriented externally, whereas the motivational orientation of older respondents is rather internal. The features of emotional experiences are also revealed: in early maturity, they are sthenic and characterized by productivity, and in later maturity, they are rather asthenic, hindering activity.Discussion. Our study expands existing information about the motivational and emotional aspects of the life plans’ transformation in early and late maturity. The motivational priorities of the representatives of both age cohorts are established. In general, maturity is associated with a redefinition of the activity vector, a revision of the significance of life goals, and a transformation of plans, which leads to an expansion or change in the boundaries of the subject or the actualization of asthenic emotional experiences.