Prof. Rachel Seginer
Department of Counseling and Human Development
University of Haifa
rseginer@edu.haifa.ac.il
Research Tools
Future Orientation
The Hebrew version of all research tools can be obtained from the author; the Arabic version of the Future Orientation questionnaires can be obtained from Dr. Sami Mahajna at samim@edu.haifa.ac.il . An English version of the questionnaire appears in Seginer (2009).
In accordance with the future orientation conceptualization developed by Seginer and her colleagues, the questionnaire consists of two parts: (1) a hopes and fears open-ended questionnaire in which respondents describe their subjective image of the future by listing hopes and fears, and (2) a prospective life course questionnaire in which participants respond to a set of Likert type items pertaining to each of the empirical variables indicating the three-component model of future orientation (Seginer, 2009, Seginer, Vermulst & Shoyer, 2004). Given a domain specific approach, these items are adjusted to the specific content of each domain and listed separately for each. Depending on the research question, participants may respond to items related to only one life domain, such as higher education, or work and career, or to several future life domains. Research conducted in recent years by Seginer and her colleagues studied mainly a core of three life domains, relevant to adolescents across different socio-cultural settings. The three domains are: higher education, work and career, and marriage and family. However, drawing on the three-component conceptualization of future orientation and existing pool of items, researchers may develop a set of items for a domain congenial with their research interests.
Primary Secondary Control
The two instruments presented below draw on Rothbaum and Weisz (Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982; Weisz, Rothbaum, & Blackburn, 1984) which expands the meaning of control by describing it in terms of two rather than one process. The initial conceptualization of control as consisting of individuals' ability to intentionally alter the environment to their benefit has been entitled primary control. The second process pertaining to individuals' inclination to intentionally fit in with existing circumstances has been labeled secondary control. Three comments are in order here. (1) The primary and secondary processes share a common agent of change – the self – but differ in target of change: the environment (primary control) and the self (secondary control). (2) The primacy of primary control is uncontested. Agriculture, the hierarchical structure of societies, and warfare are three historical and universal examples of primary control behaviors employed in all cultures at all times. Secondary control is activated when primary control is unavailable, inappropriate or insufficient. (3) Control beliefs may be global or domain-specific. The Primary-Secondary Control Scale indicates a global approach and the What would You Do questionnaire indicates a domain-specific approach which applies to three interpersonal relationships of high relevance to adolescents: parents, peers, and teachers.