Complexity of activities and personality under conditions of radical social change: A comparative analysis of Poland and Ukraine

In a comparative analysis of Poland and Ukraine, we extend the often-confir med hypothesis that the substantive complexity of work in paid employment s ubstantially affects (and is affected by) fundamental dimensions of persona lity. The extended hypothesis encompasses not only the complexity of work, whether in paid employment or in the household but even the complexity of a ctivities of the unemployed and pensioners. We hypothesize that the complex ity of activities in any important realm of life is substantially related t o personality We test this hypothesis under conditions that pose a particul arly exacting test-conditions of radical social change. We find that comple xity of activities in all these realms is substantially and significantly r elated to intellectual flexibility, self-directedness of orientation and a sense of well-being or distress for both men and women. The consonance of t hese findings with those of earlier longitudinal and simulated longitudinal analyses of the complexity of work and personality strongly implies that t he relationships of the complexity of activities and personality ore simila rly reciprocal, even if the activities are not ordinarily thought of as "wo rk."