Characteristics of the ultimate meanings and students’ life-purpose orientations depending on the gender

The relevance of the study is conditioned by rapid transition to digital forms of education, which is associated with the pandemic. Students have changed the way they interact with teachers and with each other, which constantly leads to transformation of personal meanings, values, rethinking of their purpose and role in the educational process. The purpose of the study, presented in the article, is to investigate unusual characteristics of the semantic sphere regarding male and female students’ academic activity. Hypothesis: semantic content of academic activity differs in male and female students. Participants are first-year full-time students, studying at the Faculty of Psychology, Faculty of Engineering and Economics and Faculty of Human Resources Management (N = 102, aged from 18 to 22 years, 52 participants are female students and 50 participants are male students). The participants were tested using Life-Purpose Orientations Test (D. A. Leontiev) and the Ultimate Meanings Technique (D. A. Leontiev). Based on the latter methodology, the entire sample was divided into five groups depending on the presence of a certain meaning. The conjugation of ultimate meanings and gender was determined using φ-Pearson criterion, while MANOVA criterion helped to investigate differences in life-purpose orientations depending on gender and ultimate meanings. We established differentiation within ultimate meanings in education depending on gender of a student: men are focused on respect and safety, while women are focused on getting pleasure and gaining confidence. We found that women connect getting pleasure and gaining confidence while learning with monitoring their lives, whereas male students connect it with the ultimate meanings of security and respect, satisfaction with their own lives and the feeling of being able to influence their life. The obtained results can help to draw the following conclusion: development of the individual system of life-purpose orientations and its functioning in the educational situation are interconnected with gender as one of the most essential biosocial characteristics of an individual.