title: The experience of micro- and macroevents. A life span analysis.
abstract: This study investigated how individuals retrospectively construe their lives in terms of major life events. Ninety-nine participants sorted a set of personal and historical events in terms of perceived importance for their lives. Analyses of variance with repeated measures and rank comparisons were computed. Overall findings revealed no cohort differences with regard to the perception of life events. However, within-cohort differences were found, indicating that more life events were recalled from the young adult years. Those experiences were also perceived as having been more important in the participants' lives than events from other age segments. With regard to historical events, war-related experiences were among the highest ranked. Analyses of variance revealed intracohort differences but not intercohort differences, indicating higher scores for the time between 1930 and 1948 relative to other historical periods.
authors.affiliation: University of Georgia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Smyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D010465:Perception; D012189:Retrospective Studies