Basic Beliefs and Cultural Attitudes as Predictors of Emotional and Psychological Well-Being in Urban and Rural Populations

The paper presents and discusses outcomes of a research on cultural attitudes and basic beliefs as predictors of psychological and emotional well-being in urban and rural populations. As it was revealed, beliefs contribute to the emotional and psychological well-being of both people living in urban and in rural areas. The rates of regression explaining the variations in psychological well-being by beliefs are higher in those living in rural areas, whereas the rates explaining emotional well-being are higher in urban population. The most significant predictor of the subjective well-being is one’s belief in the worth of his/her Self and in other people’s kindness. Also, of much importance for the well-being of those living in the cities (in contrast to the rural population) is their belief in luck. The impact of cultural context on the psychological well-being is higher in the rural population, while its impact on their emotional well-being remains unclear. However, if the city represents the impact of vertical individualism, in the rural areas it is horizontal individualism and collectivism that play an important role in the prediction. Thus beliefs and cultural context to a greater extent account for the variations in the psychological well-being in the rural population than in the urban one. Inclusion in a social territorial community also predetermines the differences in the prediction of the emotional and psychological well-being

Volitional qualities as predictors of the importance of social activity of students

The problem of studying the determinants of social activity of students is considered. It is assumed that there are similarities and differences in the subjective and personal determination of the directions of social activity of students. The study involved 261 students (the average age was 20.11 SD=1.2; men — 41%). The standardized questionnaire of volitional qualities of personality (M.V. Chumakov) and original scales for assessing the directions of social activity and subjective assessment of the degree of social activity of students are used. The most (leisure-communicative, educational-developing, activity in the sphere of self-development) and least (voluntary, spiritual-religious and socio-political) expressed directions of social activity are established. It is shown that the realization of different types of social activity is determined by different combinations of subjective and personal properties

Role of Self-Reflection in the Process of Student Adaptation to University

The article considers the problem of determining the role of self-reflection in the process of adaptation of students to the conditions of study at university. It is suggested that the specifics of self-reflection depend on the outcomes of social psychological adaptation of students in the educational environment of university. The study involved 320 students (average age — 24.1 years old, SD = 6.8, males — 10.3%). The following standardized techniques were used: studies on student adaptation at university (T.D. Dubovitskaya, A.V. Krylova), diagnostics of social psychological adaptation (K. Rogers, R. Diamond), measures of selfreflection level (A.V. Karpov, V. V. Ponomaryova), and custom-developed scales for evaluating self-reflective activity. The study revealed that self-reflective activity and situational, retrospective, and perspective self-reflection are specific for welladapted students as well as for students with difficulties in adaptation. It is clear that regulation of dynamics of self-reflective images is important for the process of adaptation to university, allowing the individual to combine the dynamics necessary for quick response to changes in the situation and sufficient stability and clarity for understanding and creating motivation

Evaluating Academic Adaptation in Students: A New Technique

Evaluation of academic adaptation in students is an important aspect of their incorporation into the educational environment of university. Academic adaptation can be considered a complex multicomponent formation that requires a specially developed tool to measure an individual’s ability to adapt to the educational environment in general. The aim of the research was to develop, validate and standardize a special technique for evaluating academic adaptation in university students. The study involved 419 1—4-year students aged 17—26, with the average age of M=19.6 SD=2.8 (18.4% male). A questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics. To assess the academic potential, we used a technique called “Adaptability” by A.G. Maklakov and S.V. Chermenin. We assumed that academic adaptation includes cognitive, emotional, motivational, psychophysiological, communicative and personal components. Our technique includes six scales matching these components and a separate integral scale. In the process of designing the technique we tested its reliability, face, content and convergent validity and standardization. The results of these testing showed that the technique has good psychometric indicators and can be used both for research and applied purposes

The Role of Attitudes towards Authoritarianism and Social Trust in the Manifestations of Civic and On-Line Activity

Attitudes towards authoritarianism, social dominance, social competition and social trust are important regulators of social behavior. Therefore, correlating attitudes with commitment to various forms of activity is an important step towards understanding and specifying their role in behavior. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of attitudes towards authoritarianism and social trust in the manifestations of civic and on-line activity of Russian youth. Participants. The study involved young people aged 17-35 years (average age M=21.8; SD=6.2) in the number of 442 people (men - 33.5%, women - 66.5%). The sample is representative of the provincial regions of central Russia of economically different strata. Methods. The forms of social activity were measured using direct scaling, the types of activity were determined based on factor analysis. To determine the settings, the J. Dakkit&rsquo;s scale was used in D.S. Grigoriev's adaptation. Indicators of trust are determined using the Scale of interpersonal trust of J. Rotter in the adaptation of I.Y. Leonova, I.N. Leonova. Correlations have been established between indicators of right-wing authoritarianism, institutional trust with commitment to civic (positive) and Internet network (negative) activity; belief in a competitive world &mdash; with a commitment to civic (positive) and protest (negative) activity. As a result of structural modeling, the hypothesis about the direct effect (directed connection) of right-wing authoritarianism and belief in a competitive world on commitment to civic and Internet network activity is confirmed. The role of different attitudes in adherence to certain types of activity varies. Their isolated contribution to activity can reach 16-19%, together with age, religiosity and trust - 19-26% of variations. Trust plays the role of a mediator of a direct connection between attitudes and activity, and at the same time, right-wing authoritarianism also plays the role of a mediator of a direct causal connection between age, subjective religiosity and civic and Internet network activity.</p