Psychological Security of Two Generations in Latvia

The breakup of Soviet Union and transition from "well-developed socialism" to market economy led to the changes in the attitudes and the lifestyle of the people. Have these changes made human communication safer? The most important sociopsychological condition for such security is the absence of interpersonal and intergroup aggression, as well as the hatred that tends to provoke the explosions of such aggression. Has this condition changed in the life of generation educated in the market-economy society? Are these changes accompanied by the changes in mental variables that prevent the explosions of aggression, particularly in changes of experience of love and satisfaction with life? The aim of our study is the comparison of aggression, hate, love, and satisfaction with life that characterized the generation educated in Soviet Union (43-50 years old) and the same features of the younger generation (18-25 years old), educated after the breakup of Soviet Union in Latvia. Hypothesis on the existence of intergenerational distinctions on these variables was confirmed partly: distinctions were revealed in the inclination to aggression, satisfaction with life, and love passion. All these variables are higher in young generation, which could be explained more by age-specific features than by more general changes in the social-economic and social-political circumstances.