Features Of Meaningful Orientations Of Student Activists As A Component Of Hardiness

Abstract

The article describes a study of meaningful orientations features among student activists with a high level of involvement as a component of hardiness. In modern science there are no well-founded approaches to involving students into the activities of student self-government bodies, no systematic description of factors contributing to student self-government involvement, no uniform methodological field for their study. The article deals with the following issues a: peculiarities of meaningful orientations and involvement as a component of students hardiness, features of meaningful orientations of student activists with different levels of involvement. The aim of the study is to reveal the specific features of the meaningful orientations of student activists with a high level of involvement. Students from 15 Russian universities took part in the research. The sample included 142 people: 51 activists and 91 nonactivists. The study used a meaningful orientation test, which is an adapted version of the Purpose in Life Test by J. Crumbaugh and L. Maholick, and a resilience test, which is an adaptation of S. Maddi’s "Hardiness Survey" questionnaire. We applied the following methods of mathematical statistics: descriptive statistics, Student t test, Mann-Whitney U test, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis. The results of the research show that students who take an active part in student self-management have a number of features concerning their meaningful orientations and resilience. Belonging to groups of students who are or are not activists of student government is determined by the degree of involvement as a component of resilience.