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«IZVESTIYA IRKUTSKOGO GOSUDARSTVENNOGO UNIVERSITETA». SERIYA «PSICHOLOGIYA»
«THE BULLETIN OF IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY». SERIES «PSYCHOLOGY»
ISSN 2304-1226 (Print)

List of issues > Series «Psychology». 2026. Vol 57

Women’s Representations of the Life Course Across Age Groups

Author(s)

M. Yu. Kuzmin1, I. A. Konopak1, A. V. Fetisova1, A. A. Klimov2

1 Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russian Federation

2 Innovative Educational and Developmental Service for Helping Professionals, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

Abstract
The article analyzes the characteristics of life course representations among women of different ages and their relationship to normative age patterns. Using the “Your Life Line” technique, the relationship between past and future events was examined based on 896 protocols completed by girls and women; valid age data were available for 889 participants aged 13–74 years. Cluster analysis identified different profiles of past and future representations, including major age-normative types and small specific clusters. The role of family-related events and social roles was found to increase after the age of 25. It is concluded that life course representations vary with age, shifting from an open and extended future perspective in youth to a more integrated, retrospectively organized, and selective model of the life course in middle and later adulthood.
About the Authors

Kuzmin Mikhail Yur’evich  

Candidate of Sciences (Psychology),  

Associate Professor  

Irkutsk State University  

1, K. Marx, st., Irkutsk, 664003,  

Russian Federation  

e-mail: mirroy@mail.ru


Konopak Igor Aleksandrovich  

Candidate of Sciences (Philosophy),  

Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty  

of Psychology  

Irkutsk State University  

1, K. Marx, st., Irkutsk, 664003,  

Russian Federation  

e-mail: iakonopak@gmail.com


Fetisova Anastasiya Vyacheslavovna  

Assistant, Department of Genenal Psycology  

Irkutsk State University  

1, K. Marx, st., Irkutsk, 664003,  

Russian Federation  

e-mail: cominagetcha@mail.ru


Klimov Alexander Alexandrovich  

Degree Applicant, General Director  

Innovative Educational and Development  

Service for Helping Professionals  

42A, 13th Line of Vasilievsky Island, Premises  

22-N, Saint Petersburg, 199178, Russian  

Federation  

e-mail: client@dpo-portal.ru

For citation
Kuzmin M.Yu., Konopak I.A., Fetisova A.V., Klimov A.A. Women’s Representations of the Life Course Across Age Groups. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Psychology, 2026, vol. 57, pp. 54-68. https://doi.org/10.26516/2304-1226.2026.57.54 (in Russian)
Keywords
life course, life course representation, age, women, past, future, subjective temporal perspective, cluster analysis.
UDC
159.99
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2304-1226.2026.57.54
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