Abstract:

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic appeared quite challenging for the present time. It has become a test on how strong and reliable is the personal potential determining the ability of young people, particularly students, to cope with difficulties and organize their lives in a new way. Self-organization is part of the student’s preadaptive potential in the new educational environment. It is related to personal psychological resources and state of well-being. The article describes the relationship between the indicators of students’ ability to organize themselves and the indicators of their subjective and psychological well-being. The survey involved forty-two students, aged 19-21, majoring in Pedagogical Education at Tyumen State University, Tyumen, Russia.

The aim of the study is to identify significant correlations between the ability to self-organize and the psychological and subjective wellbeing of university students, as predictors of their pre-adaptation in the Covid-19 second wave.

To assess the components of well-being, the study used the Subjective Well-Being Scale (N. P. Fetiskin, V. V. Kozlov, G. M. Manuilov) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (C. Ryff). The indicators and the level of students’ self-organization were identified through the Self-Organization of Activities Questionnaire (E. Y. Mandrikova). Statistical data analysis and presentation of the results were performed using the SPSS software package.

Measurements were carried out during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic – in October 2020. The Pearson correlation analysis revealed only 20 correlations, 8 of which were of high significance (p=0.01).

The analysis identified closest correlations between most indicators of students’ self-organization and their psychological well-being. Only determination was closely related to indicators of students’ subjective well-being.

Students’ ability to plan their activities, set their life goals, and manage their environment were the most closely related. Another significant correlation was found between the focus on the present and the personal growth. In other words, students who organize their own activities with a clear understanding of the present and who are able to plan well, proved to be more psychologically positive and resistant to change.

Determination correlates with almost all indicators of well-being. Thus, the ability to consciously set and maintain life goals is the factor that defines the overall state of personal psychological well-being, and therefore it is the most important resource in the structure of personal preadaptability.

Self-organization of activities is then a personal potential for maintaining well-being in the prolonged pandemic conditions. It makes it possible to withstand significant overload and pressure in the process of change.

Keywords:

Preadaptation, self-organization of activities, subjective well-being, psychological well-being, students, pandemic.