Everything Under Control? The Effects of Age, Gender, and Education on Trajectories of Perceived Control in a Nationally Representative German Sample

Autoren

Jule Specht
Boris Egloff
Stefan C Schmukle

DOI

10.1037/a0028243

eISSN

1939-0599

ISSN

0012-1649

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

2

Zeitschrift

Developmental Psychology

Sprache

en

Online publication date

2013

Paginierung

353 - 364

Status

Published online

Herausgeber

American Psychological Association (APA)

Herausgeber URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028243

Datum der Datenerfassung

2021

Titel

Everything under control? The effects of age, gender, and education on trajectories of perceived control in a nationally representative German sample.

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

49

Datenquelle: Crossref

Abstract

Perceived control is an important variable for various demands involved in successful aging. However, perceived control is not set in stone but rather changes throughout the life course. The aim of this study was to identify cross-sectional age differences and longitudinal mean-level changes as well as rank-order changes in perceived control with respect to gender and education. Furthermore, changes in income and health were analyzed to explain trajectories of perceived control. In a large and representative sample of Germans across all of adulthood, 9,484 individuals gave information about their perceived control twice over a period of 6 years. Using locally weighted smoothing (LOESS) curves and latent structural equation modeling, four main findings were revealed: (a) Perceived control increased until ages 30-40, then decreased until about age 60, and increased slightly afterwards. (b) The rank order of individuals in perceived control was relatively unstable, especially in young adulthood, and reached a plateau at about age 40. (c) Men perceived that they had more control than did women, but there were no gender differences in the development of perceived control. (d) Individuals with more education perceived that they had more control than those with less education, and there were slight differences in the development of perceived control dependent on education. Taken together, these findings offer important insights into the development of perceived control across the life span.

Addresses

Department of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany. jule.specht@uni-leipzig.de

Autoren

Jule Specht
Boris Egloff
Stefan C Schmukle

DOI

10.1037/a0028243

eISSN

1939-0599

Externe Identifier

PubMed Identifier: 22545833

Funding acknowledgements

German National Academic Foundation:

Open access

false

ISSN

0012-1649

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

2

Zeitschrift

Developmental psychology

Schlüsselwörter

Humans
Models, Statistical
Longitudinal Studies
Self Concept
Mental Processes
Perception
Aging
Sex Characteristics
Reference Values
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Middle Aged
Educational Status
Germany
Female
Male
Young Adult

Sprache

eng

Medium

Print-Electronic

Online publication date

2012

Paginierung

353 - 364

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2013

Status

Published

Datum der Datenerfassung

2012

Titel

Everything under control? The effects of age, gender, and education on trajectories of perceived control in a nationally representative German sample.

Sub types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

49

Datenquelle: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract

Perceived control is an important variable for various demands involved in successful aging. However, perceived control is not set in stone but rather changes throughout the life course. The aim of this study was to identify cross-sectional age differences and longitudinal mean-level changes as well as rank-order changes in perceived control with respect to gender and education. Furthermore, changes in income and health were analyzed to explain trajectories of perceived control. In a large and representative sample of Germans across all of adulthood, 9,484 individuals gave information about their perceived control twice over a period of 6 years. Using locally weighted smoothing (LOESS) curves and latent structural equation modeling, four main findings were revealed: (a) Perceived control increased until ages 30-40, then decreased until about age 60, and increased slightly afterwards. (b) The rank order of individuals in perceived control was relatively unstable, especially in young adulthood, and reached a plateau at about age 40. (c) Men perceived that they had more control than did women, but there were no gender differences in the development of perceived control. (d) Individuals with more education perceived that they had more control than those with less education, and there were slight differences in the development of perceived control dependent on education. Taken together, these findings offer important insights into the development of perceived control across the life span.

Autoren

Jule Specht
Boris Egloff
Stefan C Schmukle

Autoren-URL

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22545833

DOI

10.1037/a0028243

eISSN

1939-0599

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

2

Zeitschrift

Dev Psychol

Schlüsselwörter

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aging
Educational Status
Female
Germany
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mental Processes
Middle Aged
Models, Statistical
Perception
Reference Values
Self Concept
Sex Characteristics
Young Adult

Sprache

eng

Country

United States

Paginierung

353 - 364

PII

2012-10803-001

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2013

Status

Published

Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde

2013

Titel

Everything under control? The effects of age, gender, and education on trajectories of perceived control in a nationally representative German sample.

Sub types

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

49

Datenquelle: PubMed

Everything Under Control? The Effects of Age, Gender, and Education on Trajectories of Perceived Control in a Nationally Representative German Sample

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