Social Support as a Resource for Ensuring the Subjective Well-being of Students

Abstract

Objective. Analysis of the role of social support in ensuring the subjective well-being of students. Background. Subjective well-being is an integral experience of physical, psychological, and social health. Social support as an important resource of subjective well-being of young people has not yet received comprehensive coverage. Study design. We studied the differences between students with high and low levels of subjective well-being in terms of attitude to social support and readiness to apply for it. Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and comparative analysis were used for data processing. Participants. The study involved 850 respondents. The sample includes students of different courses and faculties of universities in Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk. Measurements. To collect empirical data, Russian-language versions of the following methods were used: 1) Multidimensional Scale of Perception of Social support — MSPSS by D. Zimet; 2) The Multidi-mensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MHC-SF) — screening version of the test by C. Keyes to assess subjective well-being; 3) The General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ). Results. Students are more willing to seek help from people in their immediate environment (romantic partners, friends, parents, relatives) than from specialists (psychologists, doctors, religious figures). There are significant differences between students with high and low levels of subjective well-being in terms of intent to search for different types of social support. Conclusions. There is a large gap in students’ perception of the effectiveness of informal types of support (from family, friends, relatives, significant persons) and formal, professional types of support (psychologists, doctors, helpline). Informal types of support enjoy a degree of trust higher than that of professional types of support. That is why it is necessary to organize and improve the student assistance service at higher educational institutions