Global, Macro, and Personal Impacts on Latvia: A Latent Structure of Perceived Control
Abstract
The study explores a latent structure of perceived impacts on the country. Perceived controllability of the context shapes individual plans and forms resource for dealing with changes. The direct and indirect exposure to global challenges (e.g., terrorist attacks) can change individual views of the controllability of the context and lead to negative psychological consequences. On the basis of the analysis, a set of perceived impacts was included in the investigation – impacts on a person, people of Latvia, its political institutions, and global players and threats – as factors representing different levels of ecological systems. Six hundred forty-seven university students from Riga, Valmiera, and Daugavpils participated in the study. The Future of Country Questionnaire was modified and used for the assessment of perceived impacts on Latvia. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for four main factors representing perceived impacts: personal control, political power, globalization, and global threats. The latter factor involved military tension and terrorism. Revealed links between control beliefs confirmed the interconnectedness of sub- and super-ordinated ecological systems. Cooperation with other people can facilitate the sense of controllability of the macro-societal context.
https://doi.org/10.29364/epsy.356
Keywords
perceived impact, latent structure, globalization, threats, Latvia, personal controlLiterature
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