Modern economic behavior: attitudes, representations and psychological characteristics of youth

Abstract

The subject of this research is the peculiarities of economic behavior, namely economic attitudes (activity in the economic sphere, financial literacy, trust in economic institutions, etc.) and representations (concept of money, shortage of money resources, financial security, solutions to financial problems). The goal lies in determination and description of the economic behavior (economic attitudes and perception of money) and their correlation with the psychological characteristics of young people (self-regulation of stressful states and resilience). The research involved young people under the age of 35. The following toolset was used: “Questionnaire for instant diagnostics of economic attitudes” developed by O. S. Deinek, E. V. Zabelina, “Diagnostics of stress condition” developed by A. O. Prokhorov, “Test for resilience” adapted by E. N. Osin, E. I. Rasskazova.. As a result of the conducted research, the author determines various patterns of the economic behavior of youth, as well as correlation of economic attitudes and perception of money with the psychological resources of a person. It is established that youth with an active economic position, financial literacy, and trust in economic institutions is characterized with the ability to adequately assess stressful circumstances and effectively cope with stress. Youth with an attitude towards socioeconomic comparison of own opportunities with others, as well as with passive adaptation to the market conditions experiences strong discomfort due to economic inequality. The author reveals that young people are exposed to stressful situations and anxiety in the situations of uncertainty and financial risks.