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Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka känslor klimataktivister upplever idag inför framtiden samt vilka känslor de förväntas uppleva i framtiden. Urvalet bestod av nio klimataktivister bosatta i Sverige som engagerar sig inom klimatfrågor genom en eller flera ideella organisationer. Datan samlades in genom story-completion task och semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserades med induktiv tematisk analys. I resultatet av studien framkom att deltagarna upplever negativt laddade känslor som rädsla, hopplöshet och skuld – samt positivt laddade känslor, som hoppfullhet, inför framtiden idag. Samma resultat syntes i de känslor som förväntas upplevas i framtiden. Anledningen till de negativt upplevda känslorna är delvis deras känslor av misstro gentemot dagens samhällssystem, dagens politik och människors ovilja till beteendeförändring. Flera av deltagarna uppgav att de vill tro på att det är möjligt att skapa en framtid som stämmer överens med deras förhoppningar för att finna motivation och fortsätta orka engagera sig för klimatet; en form av känsloreglering. / The purpose of this study was to investigate which emotions climate activists experience today regarding the future and which emotions they expect to experience in the future. The sample consisted of nine climate activists living in Sweden that are engaged in climate issues through one or more non-profit organizations. The data was collected through story-completion task and semi structured interviews and was analyzed with inductive thematic analysis. The results show that the participants experience negatively charged emotions such as fear, hopelessness and guilt – and positively charged emotions, such as hopefulness, regarding the future today. The same results were seen in the emotions who are expected to be experienced in the future. The reason for the negatively charged emotions seems to be their experience of a distrust of today’s social system, today’s politics and people’s disinclination to change their behavior. Most of the participants stated that they want to believe that it’s possible to create a future that matches their hope in order to find motivation and the energy to keep being active for the climate; a form of emotion regulation.

Parents of children diagnosed with autism, a disease characterised with difficulty in speech, behaviour and language, experience chronic stress more than in any other developmental disorder. Outcomes of chronic stress in this regard are often associated with uncertain expectations of the future where current stressors are exuberated and future expectations are negated. Thinking about the future has been noted to contribute positive psychological functioning. Authors have, however, noted that some parents of autistic children are able to conceptualise positive future expectations in the mists of stressful current realities whilst using proactive coping strategies. Proactive coping literature has predominantly focused on situational characteristics and, to a lesser extent, on dispositional characteristics The relationship between dispositional characteristics - belief in just world, sense of coherence in relation to proactive coping is investigated in parents raising a child diagnosed with autism. Constructs were operationalised through the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (Antonovsky, 1987), Global Belief in Just World Scale (Lipkus, 1991), Reactions to Daily Life Questionnaire (Greenglass, 2002) and a demographic questionnaire. A cross-sectional correlational design consisting of a sample of 30 (n = 30) parents with children with autism was conducted. SPSS ver12 was used for analysis, which included both descriptive and inferential analysis. Inferential statistics included the Independent T-Test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyse independence of the sample, and Spearman Rho correlations were used to test possible correlations between constructs. The small sample size precluded more advanced statistical manipulation of data. Open ended questions were analysed through a process of content analysis. The interpretation of results showed no significant differences between independent variables (e.g. age, gender, adjustment level of child) and constructs measured. Results of the correlational analysis indicated positive correlations between (i) belief in just world andproactive coping, (ii) sense of coherence and proactive coping as well as (iii) the sense of coherence (meaningfulness) subscale and proactive coping. No relationship was found between belief in just world and proactive coping. These results indicate that these dispositional characteristics can be associated with proactive coping and that belief in just world and sense of coherence who share similar theoretical underpinnings may have different predictor values. Qualitative results suggest that parents who engage in future oriented thinking and proactive coping strategies such as planning activities and social engagements often display higher levels of just world beliefs. The present study contributes to theoretical knowledge by providing insight into the relationships between constructs with regards to proactive coping in parents who experince chronic stress, by illustrating convergence and distinctiveness between constructs. Furthermore, knowledge was gained on the influence of dispositional characteristics on proactive coping strategies, seeing as how previous research primarily focused on situational characteristics. Practical applications of the results offer insight into coping processes of parents of children diagnosed with autism with specific reference to proactive coping which ultimately implicates the applicability value of future oriented therapeutic interventions for these families. Insight into the goals of parents and the daily challenges they face will furthermore assist the helping profession and support groups to provide effective support strategies. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

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