Autonomy of psychological space as a factor in school students' economic socialization

Abstract

Introduction. Economic socialization of the individual during adolescence takes place in the form of their spontaneous inclusion in predominantly consumer relations, with adolescentsʼ stable economic behavior patterns being developed through their communication in peer groups (by means of exchange of personal belongings and services and spontaneous buying and selling). This is greatly influenced by the individual's ability to preserve the integrity and autonomy of their psychological space.Aim: to determine the impact of school students' psychological space organization on the development of their economic and psychological qualities.Methods: Retrospective Questionnaire of Monetary Mental Sets (M. Semenov), the semantic differential method to study students' attitudes to personal property and the ways of appropriating personal goods (N. Dembitska), Attitude to Money questionnaire (M. Semenov), Social Adaptability questionnaire (O. Posipanov), GET2test (modified by N. Dembitska), and S. Nartova-Bochaver Autonomy of Psychological Space questionnaire. The study involved 634 students aged 11 to 16 years.Results. Adolescents experienced the growing impact of moral factors on their methods of appropriation. As the autonomy of adolescents' psychological space increased, their tendency to self-knowledge and positive attitudes to their own ideas and knowledge strengthened, too. High school students were shown to be inclined for direct, and sometimes aggressive, assertion of their right to privacy in the space of their own things, values, and tastes.Conclusions. There are ontogenetic factors in school students’ economic socialization, with the latter having relationships with some aspects of school students’ psychological space autonomy.