AUTONOMY AS A PERSONAL RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS OCCUPATIONAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

Background. The awareness of resources that help to overcome life challenges and flourish even in the conditions of uncertainty is critically important for young individuals transitioning from school to labor market. Autonomy, as self-governance, based on the basis of personal interests, integrated goals and values, is linked with a number of positive constructs. Those include performance, creativity, greater sense of personal reward and energy, engagement in pro-social activities and etc. Thus, autonomy might be a promising personal resource for successful functioning and occupational well-being manifested as satisfaction with life, engagement and academic major satisfaction. Purpose. The purpose of the study was to analyze the role of students“™ autonomy when predicting satisfaction with life, engagement and academic major satisfaction. Method. The sample consisted of 148 college students (97.3% male, 2.7% female; mean age 19.69 ± 1.30). The Short version of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale ““ student version (Schaufeli et al., 2002), Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985), Academic Major Satisfaction Scale (Nauta, 2007) and Dis- positional Index of Autonomous Functioning scale (Weinstein et al., 2012) were used in the study. Results . Only one of the components of autonomy, authorship/self-congruence in particular, had significant positive relationship with study variables and was a significant predictor of study engagement, satisfaction with life and academic major satisfaction. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that at least to some extent au- tonomy might serve as an important resource of students“™ well-being while struggling in academic settings.Â