W opracowaniu tym wskazuję na związek między środowiskiem lokalnym a poczuciem tożsamości osób w wieku późnej dorosłości mieszkających w polskiej i czeskiej części Śląska Cieszyńskiego.
Niniejsze opracowanie jest komunikatem z badań przeprowadzonych w Cieszynie oraz Czeskim Cieszynie w 2013 roku. Strategia ilościowa i jakościowa zastosowane zostały jako komplementarne względem siebie. Posłużono się ankietą, wywiadem oraz analizą danych jakościowych.
Wyniki przeprowadzonych badań wskazują, że istnieje związek między środowiskiem lokalnym a poczuciem tożsamości osób w wieku późnej dorosłości. Człowiek buduje swoją tożsamość w relacji z drugim człowiekiem. Chęć wynikająca z wielostronnego poznawania siebie oraz innych skutkuje świadomością odrębności i niepowtarzalności, co decyduje o poczuciu tożsamości jednostki.

The specificity of the Warmia and Mazury region, a unique cultural mosaic paired with social problems, provided a space for building social engagement in the environment by involving the local community in socio-cultural activities. These actions resulted in changes to the living environment of individuals and social groups through their participation and engagement. The aim of the article is to present the results of research showing the views of animators regarding the impact of implemented social and cultural projects on stimulating social forces in small towns and villages of Warmia and Mazury. The research findings presented in the following section show the important aspects of this activity, starting from the sources/motives of creating projects and incorporating environmental resources into them, through cooperation with the local community and creating environmental leaders, to assessing the changes taking place as a result of the implemented projects. The presented research results allow for the conclusion that animators, through their project activities, contributed to permanent, positive changes in the local environment, awakening social forces (open and hidden), and to an increase in socio-cultural activity, both during and after the project activities.

In the article, based on the specialist literature and empirical studies, the ways (forms) of spending free time by children and young people from rural areas have been discussed. First the term “leisure time” has been explicated, then functions of free time have been distinguished, and finally the specificity of spending leisure time by rural families has been presented. Having discussed the methodological assumptions (concerning the research aim, problems, method, technique, tools as well as respondents’ profiles) the research results regarding various aspects of rural children’s and young people’s leisure time such as: the amount of free time per day, leisure time activities, interests of the respondents, free time companions, the places of spending leisure time and other issues have been analysed. The findings – quantitative data – have been also presented in the form of tables. In the final part of the article conclusions have been formulated which summarise the research results.

present a theoretical and empirical perspective of life perception in the context of young people from two types of schools: primary school (13–15 years old pupils) and high school (16–18 years old students). Theoretical framework based on two theories: cognitive-experiential self-theory of personality by S. Epstein (1985, 1991, 1994, 2003) and Urie Brofenbrenner’s ecological theory (1979) and Polish condition for development in local environment described by many authors (Bańka, 2002; Mendel, 2005; Pilch, Lepalczyk, 1995, Theiss, 2001 and others). I was looking for dependencies between the image of life and interpersonal relations, dependencies between interpersonal relations and the sense of effectiveness and the differentiation of living conditions depending on the size of the place of residence (big city/medium sized cities/small town and rural environment). The image of life was analysed as beliefs about the ability to control events in it and personal effectiveness vs helplessness is a phenomenon mostly determined by learning experiences (reactions of the environment to the individual’s actions), although in part they are developmental in nature, being related to cognitive, emotional and social development. The results of the research, provided by diagnostic survey method, show that in adolescents aged 13–15, the image of life correlates significantly (p˂0,05) and positively (r˃0) with total interpersonal relationships and all its subscales (prosociality, non-aggressiveness, self towards others, support, no threat, others against me). In adolescents aged 16–18, I note significant correlations only in a few parameters – prosociality, self towards others, support and together with the category of interpersonal relations. I did not notice any statistically significant differentiation of living conditions depending on the size of the place of residence among young people aged 13–15 (all of them p>0,05). For the oldest group – among adolescents aged 16–18 – I find lower levels of self-efficiency in students in large cities. It is significantly lower than among adolescents from medium-sized cities and significantly lower than among adolescents from small towns and rural areas among adolescents aged 16–18. It confirmed that social ties, relationships in medium size cities, small towns and rural environments are more close and significant, and offer more opportunities for supporting personal development than big cities for adolescents at their 16–18 years of age.