Browsing by Author "Yrttiaho, Janica"

Objectives. Can individual differences in the way people manage their own lives (life management) be explained from the perspective of life history theory? Understanding these differences is important since life management has a great impact on the wellbeing of people. Life history theory has already been proven to explain many individual differences in the human cognition; this study aimed to expand this field of knowledge. Life history theory states, that the early-life environment of an individual shapes her life history strategies, adapting her to her environment. The events that serve as reminders of mortality in the environment of an individual (mortality cues) were hypothesised to activate different life history strategies in individuals with different childhood environments. This was hypothesised to be reflected as differences in life management. The study also sought to find out, if the observation that people can react differently to a similar mortality cue can be explained by their strategy's impact on their locus of control. Methods. The data used in this study came from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. The relationship between early-life environment (childhood socioeconomic status, SES) and life management (the Self-directedness scale in the Temperament and Character Inventory and two items concerning coping) was explored in the study. Regression analysis was used to analyse whether mortality cues moderated the relationship between SES and self-directedness. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse whether they moderated the relationship between SES and coping. Sample size was 2 103 for analyses concerning self-directedness (mean age = 31.48 years) and 773 for those concerning coping (mean age = 20.66 years). Results and conclusions. Individuals with lower childhood SES felt that things outside their control were influencing their life more than did those with higher childhood SES. Lower SES was also connected with lower self-directedness in general. The tendency to use one way of coping over another after facing the death of a friend or a family member seemed to depend on childhood SES. Individuals with lower childhood SES used more approach coping; those with higher childhood SES used more avoidance coping. Life history theory seems to be a relevant scientific framework for studying individual differences in life management. Differences in life management might help to understand why people with different backgrounds might react differently to a similar mortality cue. However, no interaction effect on life management was found between the other mortality cues used in the study and childhood SES. Sporadic incidences that are a natural part of life do not seem to activate life history strategies permanently. It is advised then, that especially when the activation of life history strategies is explored using an experimental study design, the results should be interpreted keeping in mind the possibility that single cues might only activate strategies temporarily.