Representations of young people about psychological well-being and the strategies to achieve it

The article presents the empirical pilot study. The aim of the study is to describe representations of psychological well-being, factors of subjective ill-being and ways to overcome this condition among young people. The study involved 70 students from St. Petersburg State University, including 48 ladies and 22 young men, from 18 to 20 years of age. Methods of research: The Scale of psychological well-being by C. Ryff in adaptation of T.D. Shevelenko-va, T.P. Fesenko; Tomsk Questionnaire of Rigidity of Zalevskiy, an author's questionnaire aimed at identifying the perceptions of psychological well-being and ill-being of a personality, as well as metacognitive self-regulation strategies. The article also presents the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results. Based on the quantitative data of the scale of psychological well-being, the respondents were divided into three groups: low (23% respondents), medium (60% respondents) and high (17% respondents) indicators of psychological well-being. With the help of the qualitative analysis of the responses, we identified the causes of ill-being and the strategies causing it. We identified four metacognitive strategies: areflexia, introspection, quasi-reflexion, and systematic reflection. Introspection strategy involves concentrating on one's own status and experiences. The strategy of areflexia was expressed in the respondent's fixation on an external object or "on a task". Quasi-reflexion is a fixation on some third-party objects outside of the current situation. Systematic reflection was the most effective strategy because respondents could see the situation of interaction, as the pole of the subject, object and alternative possibilities. The study showed that individuals with a low level of psychological well-being had a broad perception of the causes of personal dissatisfaction and a narrow perception of self-regulation strategies. The introspection and quasi-reflexion strategies were more typical to the respondents from this group. Respondents with the medium level of psychological well-being described in detail the emotional and psychological causes of distress, and preferred introspection strategies. Respondents with a high level of psychological well-being identified emotional and psychological factors among the causes of ill-being. They used the strategy of systematic reflection more often than the other respondents. Each strategy is a certain way to adapt to possible changes in life situations and are specific mental self-regulation processes.

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