Psychological well-being and existential fulfillment in late adolescence

The study of the positive aspects of the human psyche is in the field of positive psychology – one of the most modern areas of psychological science. The main purpose of this direction is the study of the optimal functioning of the psyche, the search for factors contributing to the well-being of a person in society.

The main psychological constructs in this study were psychological well-being and existential fulfillment.

Psychological well-being is a subjective sense of the integrity and meaningfulness of a person's being. Related, forming this construct are such concepts as "life satisfaction" and "happiness".

For the first time, the concept of "psychological well–being" was introduced by N. Bradburn, who argued that the experience of well-being is the result of the interaction of two affects - negative and positive. The difference between them is an indicator of life satisfaction ^[3].

Existential fulfillment is a multidimensional concept closely related to such terms as "meaning of life", "meaningfulness" and "existence", which represents the quality of a person's life associated with a sense of its fullness with a certain meaning.

The meaning of life is a multidimensional construct that came to psychological science from philosophy, has settled here tightly and has now become one of the most important subjects of the study of developmental psychology. In the process of studying the phenomenon of the meaning of life, various theories have been put forward, there is a variety of philosophical, religious and psychological approaches, the purpose of which is to search for a universal interpretation of this concept. D.A. Leontiev defines the semantic sphere of personality as a specially organized set of semantic formations and connections between them, which provides a guiding regulation of the subject's vital activity in all its spheres and aspects ^[9].

Thanks to the works of V. Frankl, the idea that existential fulfillment, meaningful life is the key to spiritual balance, psychological well-being in the broad sense of the word has become firmly rooted in modern psychology, and the lack of meaningfulness of being can lead to the so-called noogenic neurosis (the painful search for the meaning of life in an existential vacuum). There are many interdisciplinary studies on this topic ^[11].

An important neoplasm of adolescence is the appearance of long-term life goals, this is manifested by the attitude to the conscious construction of one's own life, so the search for its meaning is manifested ^{[1, 3, 4]}. Late adolescence is a period associated with studying at a higher educational institution and the beginning of employment. New generations of young people start independent life later than in the past. For the beginning of the period (17-18 years) it is characterized by maturity in mental, moral and socio-social terms, the strengthening of conscious motives of behavior. At the end of the period (24-25 years) as a rule, it is necessary to complete education, complete separation from parents and self-realization in the profession, in work. The processes of self-awareness and self-determination reach their final stage ^[4].

During this period, a person completes the processes of self-knowledge, forms his life path, the meaning of life and tries himself in various fields of activity, as well as actively defends his position and worldview, socializes. At this age, a system of values and moral and ethical principles develops due to the synthesis of accumulated knowledge, life experience, reflection, independent reflection ^{[12, 13]}.

As for the general idea of our research, it should be noted that many psychological studies focus on the study of various forms of deviation and psychological problems of a person. Analysis of psychological health indicators and their mutual influence often fade into the background. It remains a problem to study the achievement of psychological well-being and the factors that influence it. As, for example, the relationship of existential fulfillment (fundamental existential motivations) with various positive aspects of personality functioning that make up psychological well-being: autonomy, competence, personal growth, positive relationships, self-acceptance and life goals ^{[5, 6, 7]}.

In this regard, it seems necessary to study the relationship between existential fulfillment and psychological well-being in late adolescence, since in our opinion the components of these two psychological constructs may have significant connections. If there is a relationship, then a promising direction for psychology will be work with young people aimed at developing fundamental existential motivations in order to increase the level of psychological well-being ^{[8, 9, 10]}.

The object of research: psychological well-being and existential fulfillment. Subject of the study: the relationship between the components of psychological well-being and existential fulfillment. The purpose of the study: to identify the relationship between the components of psychological well-being and existential fulfillment.

Research hypothesis:

1. The first fundamental existential motivation concerning the possibility of being in the world is significantly related to self-acceptance and competence. The second fundamental existential motivation concerning the value of life is significantly related to self-acceptance and positive relationships. The third fundamental existential motivation concerning self-worth is significantly related to self-acceptance and personal growth. The fourth fundamental existential motivation concerning meaning is significantly related to life goals and autonomy.

The sample of the study: boys and girls aged 17 to 25 years in the number of 82 people, 41 of them boys and 41 girls.

Research methods:

1. "Diagnostics of existential fulfillment" (V.B. Shumsky, E.M. Ukolova, E.N. Osin, Ya.D. Lupandina)

This technique is an original Russian-language technique based on the concept of the four fundamental existential motivations of A. Langle. The first fundamental existential motivation represents the possibility of being in the world, the second is the value of life, the third is self–worth, and the fourth is meaning. The main difference between this technique and previous analogues is the brevity of the set of statements, their comprehensibility for Russian–speaking respondents (since it is not a translation), higher reliability of scales, as well as theoretically and empirically valid structure. The technique is suitable for both research and psychodiagnostic purposes ^[5].

2. "The scale of psychological well-being" by K. Riff (adapted by L.V. Zhukovskaya, E.G. Troshikhina)

This technique is an adapted Russian version of the English-language methodology "The scales of psychological well-being", developed by K. Riff ^[15]. The questionnaire consists of 54 items, includes 6 scales and an integral indicator of psychological well-being.

The methodology was chosen by us, as it is the most fully measuring psychological well-being tool developed by an authoritative scientist in this field. The research of the American psychologist K. Riff has made a great contribution to the study of psychological well-being. The adaptation of L.V. Zhukovskaya and E.G. Troshikhina, in turn, is one of the most modern among the existing ones, since it contains the optimal number of statements.

The study sample consisted of boys and girls aged 17 to 25 years in the number of 82 people, 41 of them boys and 41 girls. The survey and the search for respondents were conducted via the Internet, which made it possible to make the sample uniform by age and gender.

Respondents were asked to fill out a form in which it was necessary to answer a total of 90 questions (using two methods). At will, respondents left their contacts to get results, which later was often the reason for psychological consultations, discussion of respondents' results and identification of specific relationships between their life events and low/high indicators on the scales of questionnaires.

Data processing methods are methods of mathematical statistics, namely descriptive statistics and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

The results of the subjects will be considered in accordance with the hypothesis. The common thing is that the results for all components of the study (components of psychological well-being and components of existential fulfillment) were obtained from the same people.

The study was conducted in several stages:

1) the theoretical stage of the research (analysis of psychological literature on the research topic, formulation of the research problem, promotion and substantiation of hypotheses);

2) search for respondents, processing of results by methods;

3) comparison of data on the scales of two methods in accordance with the hypotheses put forward using methods of mathematical statistics;

4) analysis and description of the results of the study.

To identify the significance of the relationships between the components of psychological well-being and existential fulfillment, statistical processing of the results was carried out using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, which allows determining the closeness and direction of the correlation between two signs or two groups of signs ^[9].

Before conducting statistical processing of the data obtained using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, we applied descriptive statistics methods, which allowed us to summarize the results obtained in the course of the study. Descriptive statistics in our study include only the median and the scope, since the data are obtained on an ordinal scale, that is, the data can be compared and ordered, but it is impossible to say how much or how many times one value is greater than the other.

The median is a measure of the central trend and provides a generalization of the data set in terms of their most typical values. In other words, the median is a number where half of the sample items are larger than it, and the other half is smaller. The scope is a measure of variability and the degree to which individual indicators differ from each other, that is, the difference between the largest and smallest values of the study data ^[9].

The results of descriptive statistics are presented in Tables 1 and 2.

Descriptive statistics for the components of psychological well-being and existential fulfillment.

Table 1 – Median and scope for psychological well-being

Table 2 – Median and scope for existential fulfillment

To calculate Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, it is necessary to perform the following steps to identify the statistical significance of the relationships between the components of psychological well-being and fundamental existential motivations:

1) ranking the values of A (where A is a component of psychological well–being) and B (where B is a fundamental existential motivation) and entering them in the columns "rank A" and "rank B";

2) counting the difference between ranks A and B (value d);

3) squaring each difference d (value d2);

4) counting the sum of squares;

5) calculation of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs) by the formula (where n is the number of respondents, and Zd is the sum of the squares of the rank differences):

Figure 1 – Formula for calculating Spearman's rank correlation coefficient

6) Determine the critical rs values for a given n ^[9].

The critical values for n = 82 (where n = 82 is the number of respondents) are 0.22 (at a significance level of p<0.05) and 0.28 (at a significance level of p<0.01), respectively.

Below is a summary table (Table 3) of the obtained coefficients for the hypothesis with significance levels and describe the results separately for each component of the hypothesis, designating these components as: hypothesis 1, 2, 3, 4.

Table 3 – The relationship between the components of psychological well-being and existential fulfillment in representatives of late adolescence

FM – fundamental motivation

* p<0.05

** p<0.01

Hypothesis 1: The first fundamental existential motivation concerning the possibility of being in the world is significantly related to self-acceptance and competence.

We formulate H1 and H0 for the first hypothesis and make calculations:

H1: The first fundamental existential motivation concerning the possibility of being in the world is significantly related to self-acceptance and competence.

H0: There is no significant connection between the first fundamental existential motivation concerning the possibility of being in the world and self-acceptance and competence.

Detailed calculations of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to determine the statistical significance of the relationship between the first fundamental existential motivation and self-acceptance, the first fundamental existential motivation and competence are presented in Appendix D, Tables G.1 and G.2.

Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the first hypothesis is:

rs = 0.525** (relationship between the first fundamental existential motivation and competence).

rs = 0.553** (the relationship between the first fundamental existential motivation and self-acceptance).

The first hypothesis was confirmed: the first fundamental existential motivation concerning the possibility of being in the world is significantly related to self-acceptance and competence. Hypothesis H1 is accepted, H0 is rejected.

Hypothesis 2: The second fundamental existential motivation concerning the value of life is significantly related to self-acceptance and positive relationships.

We formulate H1 and H0 for the second hypothesis and make calculations:

H1: The second fundamental existential motivation concerning the value of life is significantly related to self-acceptance and positive relationships.

H0: There is no significant connection between the second fundamental existential motivation concerning the value of life and self-acceptance and positive relationships.

Detailed calculations of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to determine the statistical significance of the relationship between the second fundamental existential motivation and self-acceptance, the second fundamental existential motivation and positive attitudes are presented in Appendix D, Tables G.3 and G.4.

Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the second hypothesis is:

rs = 0.665** (the relationship between the second fundamental existential motivation and positive relationships).

rs = 0.595** (the relationship between the second fundamental existential motivation and self-acceptance).

The second hypothesis was confirmed: the second fundamental existential motivation concerning the value of life is significantly associated with self-acceptance and positive relationships. Hypothesis H1 is accepted, H0 is rejected.

Hypothesis 3: The third fundamental existential motivation concerning self-worth is significantly related to self-acceptance and personal growth.

We formulate H1 and H0 for the third hypothesis and make calculations:

H1: The third fundamental existential motivation concerning self-worth is significantly related to self-acceptance and personal growth.

H0: There is no significant connection between the third fundamental existential motivation concerning self-worth and self-acceptance and personal growth.

Detailed calculations of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to determine the statistical significance of the relationship between the third fundamental existential motivation and self-acceptance, the third fundamental existential motivation and personal growth are presented in Appendix D, Tables G.5 and G.6.

Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the third hypothesis is:

rs = 0.339** (the relationship between the third fundamental existential motivation and personal growth).

rs = 0.678** (the relationship between the third fundamental existential motivation and self-acceptance).

The third hypothesis was confirmed: the third fundamental existential motivation concerning self-worth is significantly related to self-acceptance and personal growth. Hypothesis H1 is accepted, H0 is rejected.

Hypothesis 4: The fourth fundamental existential motivation concerning meaning is significantly related to life goals and autonomy.

We formulate H1 and H0 for the fourth hypothesis and make calculations:

H1: The fourth fundamental existential motivation concerning meaning is significantly related to life goals and autonomy.

H0: There is no significant connection between the fourth fundamental existential motivation, concerning meaning, with life goals and autonomy.

Detailed calculations of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to determine the statistical significance of the relationship between the fourth fundamental existential motivation and autonomy, the fourth fundamental existential motivation and life goals are presented in Appendix D, Tables G.7 and G.8.

Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the fourth hypothesis is:

rs = 0.22* (the relationship between the fourth fundamental existential motivation and autonomy).

rs = 0.821** (the relationship between the fourth fundamental existential motivation and life goals).

The fourth hypothesis was confirmed: the fourth fundamental existential motivation concerning meaning is significantly related to life goals and autonomy. Hypothesis H1 is accepted, H0 is rejected.

Thus, all hypotheses were confirmed at a high level of significance p<0.01, except for half of the fourth hypothesis, which was confirmed at a sufficient level of significance p <0.05).

A detailed description of the results of the study and analysis of the data obtained will be made in paragraph 2.3 of this chapter.

During the empirical part of the study, our hypothesis was confirmed.

In general, the results obtained can be applied in psychotherapeutic and counseling practice in the field of existential and positive psychology in order to develop such fundamental and fundamental qualities for a healthy psyche as psychological well–being and existential fulfillment, which, in turn, contribute to the development of self-actualization - a person's desire for the fullest identification and realization of his personal capabilities.

Thus, in the course of the study, we achieved our goal, namely, we identified significant connections between the components of such constructs as psychological well-being and existential fulfillment.  We have made the following conclusions:

1) The first fundamental existential motivation, which is fundamental and concerns the possibility of being in the world, is significantly related to self-acceptance and competence. This means that to answer the question "can I be here?" a person needs to accept himself and skillfully handle the resources provided by the environment.

2) The second fundamental existential motivation concerning the value of life is significantly related to self-acceptance and positive relationships. Here a person needs to answer the question "do I like living?", which is largely influenced by both self-acceptance and building favorable relationships with other people.

3) The third fundamental existential motivation concerning self-worth is significantly related to self-acceptance and personal growth. This motivation is connected with the search for an answer to the question "do I have the right to be myself?". To answer it, a person needs, again, to accept himself and understand his strengths and weaknesses, develop useful skills and abilities, broaden his horizons, gain new knowledge.

4) The fourth fundamental existential motivation, crowning all the previous ones and concerning meaning, is significantly related to life goals and autonomy. Here a person needs to answer one of the most difficult philosophical questions of existence, "what do I see the meaning of?". To do this, he needs the ability to set life goals and the ability to follow them, regardless of life's obstacles, to be able to defend his position.

The following trends were also noticed during the study:

1) Respondents with a high level of psychological well-being were guaranteed to have a high level of existential fulfillment. However, respondents with a high level of psychological well-being did not always have a high level of existential fulfillment.

2) The component of psychological well-being "self-acceptance" demonstrated the most significant relationship with the components of existential fulfillment (fundamental existential motivations) at the significance level p?0.01.

The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the results of the study can be applied in the framework of existential psychotherapy, as well as in the analysis of factors that affect the psychological well-being of a person.