Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology
2025. Vol. 15, no. 4, 531–550
ISSN: 2658-3607 / 2658-6010 (online)
Coherence of self-concepts and individual’s life space: A qualitative study
Abstract
The question of how a person perceives himself in relation to different spheres of life, how he integrates them in his living space, has not been sufficiently studied. The study conducted a qualitative analysis of future representations using the in-depth interview, processing respondents’ answers through content and thematic analysis. The sample: 25 adults aged 21 to 43 years, 253,8 (22 women). A total of 574 free statements were analyzed. The results showed that reference to the life scenario allows structuring the time of life, ensuring the integrity and direction of the life path, while some periods may be perceived as vague. Planning horizons for different spheres differ, but after a certain point in the distant future — late adulthood — a person’s identity and sense of self are presented to them as unchanging. The distinction between present and future time is subjectively marked by respondents through thresholds, the transition across which is characterized by a change in emotional attitude and the degree of uncertainty. There were described four ways of coherence of the self in time (partially coinciding with the ways of coherence of the autobiographical narrative): 1) through maintaining commitment to a certain role or value (thematic coherence); 2) through maintaining commitment to a plan, presenting a sequence of steps to achieve an important goal (causal-motivational coherence); 3) through maintaining and/or reproducing a desired state; 4) through maintaining the context of life as stable in time. To establish the coherence of life spheres, respondents used different ways of their connection: time ordering, prioritisation, spatial arrangement of representations (life fragments) in a single mental overview, unification of spheres through the active acting self. We also registered that respondents experience the situation of life choice in different ways — as a forced restriction or, on the contrary, as the emergence of new opportunities. The results allow us more fully describe ideas about the psychology of the life path, the role of сoherence of self-concepts in integrity of the individual’s life space.
General Information
Keywords: coherence of self-concepts, ideas about the future, life spheres, personal life space, life space integrity
Journal rubric: Empirical and Experimental Research
Article type: scientific article
Funding. This study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation Grant no. 24-18-00308 “Processual model of personality integrity: theoretical foundation and empirical referents”.
Received 20.05.2025
Accepted
Published
For citation: Avanesyan, M.O., Moskvicheva, N.L. (2025). Coherence of self-concepts and individual’s life space: A qualitative study. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 15(4), 531–550. (In Russ.). URL: https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/vspu_psychology/archive/2025_n4/Avanesyan_Moskvicheva (viewed: 03.03.2026)
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