Abstract

Background.National policies and laws determine the specifics of family relationship and marriage in different countries. Traditional norms and values that determine the marital and family behavior of young people are weakening with the rapid change in political and economic situation and with the digitalization of society. In this regard it is urgent to study the socio-psychological factors that determine the process of family self-determination in the youth of digital generation. 

Objective. The study aims to analyze structural and meaningful characteristics of family self-determination depending on the degree of responsibility among students in adolescence. 

Sample. The study involved 326 students of Astrakhan State University aged from 17 to 19 years. These included 47 (14.4%) male and 279 (85.6%) female students of humanities programmes. 

Methods. Empirical research was conducted with the use of psychodiagnostic techniques: a modified version of the semantic differential methodology by I.L. Solomin, the “Test of life orientations” by D.A. Leontiev, the questionnaire “The level of the ratio of “value” to “accessibility” in various spheres of life” by E.B. Fantalova, the projective technique “Incomplete sentences”, the questionnaire “Role expectations and claims in marriage” by A.N. Volkova, multidimensional func- tional diagnostics of responsibility by V.P. Pryadein. Regression analysis made it possible to assess the impact of responsibility on indicators of family self-determination. 

Results. It is shown that responsibility determines the development of cognitive, value-emotional, regulatory-behavioral, motivational and reflexive components of family self-determination in adolescence. Responsibility has been found to have the greatest impact on the meaningfulness of life (determination coefficient R2 = 0.203) as well as on role claims in the sphere of social activity (R2 = 0.179). 

Conclusion. Responsibility is a significant micro-level factor determining the process of family self-determination in adolescence. The development of responsibility among students will allow to form a holistic image “Me as a family person”, to cultivate the values of marriage and family relations and life orientations, to integrate ideas on the time perspective, to reduce the number of extramarital births as a result of the actualization of parenthood as an important marriage motive. 

Practical application of the results. The materials of the conducted research can be used in the development and implementation of educational programmes at institutions of higher education. They can also be used to promote psy- chological and pedagogical conditions for self-determination in the sphere of marital and family relations through the development of responsibility among modern students. 

Funding. The study was supported by the RFBR grant 20-013-00072 “Personal factors of the development of family self-determination in adolescence and early adulthood”. 

Acknowledgments. The authors express their deep appreciation and sincere gratitude for many years of fruitful cooperation to the scientific consultant O.A. Karabanova. The authors thank the Russian Foundation for Basic Research for the financial support of the project.