ИСТИНА

Studies conducted in the United States, Germany, Russia, Croatia and Singapore have confirmed Kasser & Ryan's hypothesis that focusing on extrinsic goals is associated with lower well-being, whereas placing a stronger emphasis on intrinsic goals is associated with greater well-being. However, some cultural differences in this general finding appear and are worthy of consideration. They are primarily related to gender differences and to extrinsic goals which may have different meaning in less prosperous countries. As predicted, stronger importance and expectancies of extrinsic goals were negatively related to well-being in a Russian sample, but these effects were weaker for women (Ryan et al., 1999). One of the aims of the present study was to see whether this finding is consistent across different age groups and samples. The participants were 114 high school students and 145 university students from Moscow. They completed the Aspiration Index (Kasser, Ryan, 1996) and measures of well-being (Lyubomirsky Subjective happiness scale, Trait Depression scale, Rosenberg Self-esteem scale). The intrinsic aspirations were generally rated as more important than extrinsic. Some prominent gender differences appeared: females rated appealing appearance as more important and more attainable than males did. Stronger importance and expectancies regarding intrinsic goals were positively related to well-being, but the effect of extrinsic goals on well-being was gender-dependent. The high school girls showed positive correlations between well-being and importance of social recognition and financial success, whereas in male sample extrinsic aspirations were unrelated to well-being. It is suggested that financial success and fame may mean competence and help to satisfy this inherent psychological need.