Subjective well-being of psychological-pedagogical students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction. With the development of humanistic attitudes in society, the importance of issues related to the subjective well-being of the individual increases. It is important not only how successful a person is at work or in educational activities, but also how well he/she feels. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the learning environment for university students. The study of the factors of subjective well-being of students expands the instrumental capabilities of psychological support during the pandemic. In the case of a repetition of a similar situation, this knowledge will be useful for helping students, and potentially a wider circle of people, to maintain subjective well-being.Aim. The present research aimed to investigate the subjective well-being of students of psychological and pedagogical directions of universities during the pandemic with an emphasis on its emotional component.Methodology and research methods. The research methodology is based on the subjective approach, which considers a student as an active subject, capable of successfully adapting to the changed conditions of an educational activity. In the course of the research, the authors identified the interrelationships of subjective well-being, its semantic markers and self-organisation to expand the possibilities of diagnosing subjective well-being and maintaining it during the periods of extreme social situations, as well as to use semantic markers for self-analysis. To assess subjective well-being, three methods were applied. Self-assessment of satisfaction with one’s condition on a 10-point scale was carried out according to the following parameters: sleep, food, communication with family, communication with friends, studies, hobbies, and mood. The authors employed the scale of subjective well-being (by А. Perrudet-Badoux, G. Mendelsohn, J. Chiche, adapted by M. V. Sokolova) and psychosemantic characteristics of the subjective attitude to the situation of distance learning at the university due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess the ability of students to organise themselves in the changed learning conditions, the questionnaire of self-organisation of activities (N. T. Feather и M. J. Bond, adapted by E. Yu. Mandrikova) was used. The study involved 406 students between the ages of 18 and 45 years (383 women and 23 men) studying in the areas of psychology and pedagogy at the University of Tyumen and State Kurgan State University. For statistical analysis of the research data, the Mann-Whitney U Test and correlation analysis were used.Results. It was found that the ability to self-organise leads to higher subjective well-being, and this, in turn, stimulates self-organisation. Semantic markers of subjective well-being associated with educational activities during the pandemic, such as comfortable and uncomfortable, interesting and uninteresting, tired and vigorous, were highlighted. The authors revealed objective parameters associated with self-organisation and subjective well-being, namely sleep disturbances. This can lead to the fact that there is not enough daytime and the student works at night, thereby resulting in the disturbance of night sleep, and consequently – poor self-organisation.Scientific novelty. The parameters of subjective well-being and self-organisation of students in a new, extreme social situation, during the COVID-19 pandemic are considered.Practical significance. The data obtained can be used to develop a strategy for teaching students in a pandemic situation and forced self-isolation, as well as to increase subjective well-being in a new social situation. The research results can be applied in psychodiagnostics for a more complete interpretation of the parameters of subjective well-being, as well as for the use of the identified relationships in the programmes of psychological support for students of psychological and pedagogical specialities. Semantic markers of subjective well-being that have received empirical justification can be employed to create a diagnostic scale.