Adolescents' Well-Being and Perceived Control Across 14 Sociocultural Contexts

The sweeping sociopolitical changes in Eastern Europe and the importance of self-related resources in facilitating adolescents' transitions to adulthood motivated this study on the effects of sociocultural context on adolescents' perceived control and well-being ( N = 3, 844; 7 Western contexts, 7 Eastern). The authors found that the mean levels of well-being and perceived control varied along stable Western vs. unstable Eastern sociohistorical contexts: (a) Eastern adolescents showed lower levels of well-being (perhaps related to economic aspects of change) and (b) higher levels of perceived control (perhaps related to perceived freedoms implied in the direction of change). Notably, however, the individual-difference relations (correlations) among the constructs were very uniform across the 14 settings, suggesting that the adaptive psychological interface between well-being and personal control is relatively robust against sociopolitical influences.