Subjective well-being in its relation to various forms of activity of the student youth

Abstract

Social activity is the sphere of students’ personal socialization and fulfillment. The study of interconnection between adherence to various forms of social activity and characteristics of subjective well-being allows unveiling the most general parameters of student activity’s consistence and personal orientation. The purpose of the study is to carry our analysis of the interconnection between subjective well-being characteristics and social activity forms. It is assumed that various forms of activity have the potential for satisfying students’ psychological needs and creating a balance between the desired and the real situation. Participants. 215 university students of Russia (aged from 17 to 27; the mean age was М = 20,2; SD = 2.44 (42.3% males). Measurements. The following techniques were used: questionnaire for defining major demographic characteristics and adherence to various forms of activity that were classified as follows: civil-political, protest-subcultural, spiritual-educational, and leisure activity, to define subjective well-being characteristics we used the Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale (M. M. Johnston, S. Finney); Subjective well-being scale (S. Lyubomirsky, H. Lepper); Life satisfaction scale (E. Diener); Social frustration technique (L. I. Wasserman). Results. The cognitive component of subjective well-being in students is coupled with their desire for civil and political participation, volunteerism, potential development, and education. Emotional component is positively correlated with implementation of spiritual search, educational activity, self-development; it is negatively correlated with protest forms of activity and participation in sub-cultural movements. It has been found out that leisure forms of activity are correlated with satisfaction of basic needs for autonomy, competence and pertinence; protest-subcultural forms of activity do not fully promote satisfaction of the need for autonomy and competence; students’ adherence to civil-political and spiritual-educational activity is linked with satisfaction of their need for competence. Conclusions. The most psychologically-tense forms of students’ social activity are the protest ones, as well as participation in subcultural movements; they are related to basic needs’ frustration and social frustration.