Socio-psychological prerequisites for constructive patriotism of adolescents and youth: A systematic review of empirical research

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of constructive patriotism is studied within the framework social psychology. Constructive patriotism is based on positive national identification and attachment to one’s motherland, expressed in readiness to implement prosocial behavior, considered as a contribution to the well-being of the country. The purpose of the study is to summarize the data on socio-psychological prerequisites for the formation of adolescents and youth’s constructive patriotic attitudes. Materials and Methods. A systematic review of empirical studies devoted to the analysis of socio-psychological prerequisites of constructive patriotism, published in the period between 2000 and 2023 was conducted. The review was carried out in 2023 using the electronic bibliographic databases Google Scholar and RSCI. The analysis included articles with full-text Russian-language or English-language abstracts containing the results of original empirical studies on socio-psychological correlates and predictors of constructive patriotism. Out of 2047 analyzed sources, 30 articles were recognized as meeting the selection criteria, which made up the corpus of analyzed publications. Results. The study has revealed five groups of socio-psychological prerequisites for constructive patriotism in adolescent and youth environments: national identity (positive perception of one's own nation based on symbolic attachment and understanding of the prospects for the development of one's country); other components of social identity (global and civic identity); values (first of all, growth values characterized by both individualistic and social orientation); social attitudes (orientation towards social justice and altruism); features of processing social information (reflexivity, rationality as opposed to intuitiveness, critical thinking). The indirect contribution to constructive patriotism of such socio-demographic variables as education and place of residence is taken into account. Conclusions. The results of the systematic review indicate that constructive patriotism is a multi-determined phenomenon and reveal main research directions within constructive patriotism of Russian adolescents and youth, which are significant for the formation of scientifically based programs to promote the formation of patriotic attitudes. The prospects of the research are the development and implementation of an empirical research program aimed at verifying the contribution of the described prerequisites to the constructive patriotic attitudes of adolescents and youth in the conditions of modern Russia.