DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL C AREERS

To provide a backdrop for a commentary on the report of the KSPW study group on ''Individual Development, Education and Occupational Careers '', models on the interplay between social change and personality deve lopment are first reported. This is followed by a description of the d ata sources utilized, which are seen as inadequate for cohort studies or even more complex longitudinal designs. Important results are repor ted next. First, the changes in contexts and institutions relevant for children and adolescents are characterized as a radical rearrangement of the mesosystem for development, which may result in a socializatio n vacuum, particularly among groups low on resources, such as single p arents or those with poor qualifications. Second, the high unemploymen t rate has already increased the widely shared dissatisfaction with pe rformance by government and society. Again, the social and political t ransformations did not affect all cohorts and quarters of life equally . The necessary value change requires time until it becomes manifest i n individuals' behavior. Third, a particular outcome of social change seems to be the accentuation of preexisting individual differences in such as aspects of personality which even if maladaptive, proved to be helpful in coping with problems. The research fostered by the KSPW of fers new insights into the relevance of contexts for development. More attention needs to be paid to the mediating processes, such as the fa mily or peer group, which link social change and individual developmen t. This should be the aim of a future wave of investigation which woul d also need to deal with the long-term consequences of transformation.