Attitude to Coming-of-Age in Adolescents of Saint-Petersburg and Smolensk in Context of their Resiliency

Abstract

The article features an empirical study of the attitude of adolescents to coming-of-age with various resiliency in St. Petersburgand Smolensk. The research employed a modified version of the Dembo-Rubinshtein selfevaluation methodology. The actual and ideal self-esteem of the teenagers was measured in terms of «adulthood», «willingness to be an adult» and «desire to grow up»; their resilience was assessed with the help of a screening version of the Resiliency. The characteristics of the regulatory, moral and reflexive spheres were assessed according to the Self-Assessment Scale of Personal Maturity. The research demonstrated that adolescents from Smolenskassessed their desire to grow up significantly higher than those from St. Petersburg, while their level of actual and ideal self esteem of adulthood remained the same. The adolescents from St. Petersburgshowed lower rates of conative, reflexive and moral maturity, as well as resiliency, primarily in terms of involvement and control. Depending on the strategy of growing up, resiliency is a resource (for an internally coordinated strategy of coming-of-age) or a personal condition for exercising control over one's own life (for an internally conflicting strategy of coming-of-age). The data obtained are used in the psychological and pedagogical accompaniment of adolescents growing up in different sociocultural conditions. There is a tendency to further research on the influence of socio-cultural factors on the implementation of a particular coming-of age strategy and teenagers’ attitude.