Factors of psychological well-being of adolescents in the aspect of self-knowledge

¹ Tula State University, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Tula, Russia
² V. Ya. Kikot Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Department of Legal Psychology of the Educational and Scientific Complex of Psychology of Official Activity, Moscow, Russia
³ Russian New University, Institute of Psychology and Pedagogy, Department of General Psychology and Labor Psychology, Moscow, Russia
⁴ L. N. Tolstoy State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Psychology, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Tula, Russia

^* Corresponding author: inessa-feldman@mail.ru

Abstract

The premise for the present study lies in the lack of a unanimous scientific opinion on the relationship between self-knowledge and psychological well-being. The article presents the results of a study of the factors of psychological well-being of adolescents associated with their self-knowledge. The relevance of the conducted study is due to the need to integrate scientific knowledge on the internal factors contributing to psychological well-being. The scientific novelty is shaped by the fact that adolescents’ self-knowledge in the context of their psychological well-being is understudied and is examined for the first time. The study includes 500 adolescents aged 13-17 years old from schools in Tula, Lipetsk, and Moscow regions. The conducted factor analysis reveals common and specific factors of psychological well-being that are significant for adolescents with varying levels of psychological well-being. The common factors found in the entire sample are the desire for self-reflective analysis, for successful communication, for physical harmony, and for a meaningful perception of one’s future. The specific factors relevant for each group – adolescents with high, average, and low levels of psychological well-being – are also identified. The results of the analysis allow concluding that the psychological well-being of adolescents at different levels of psychological well-being is determined by factors related to self-knowledge. The presented work is of interest for researchers concerned with the problems of adolescents’ psychological well-being, as well as in designing educational programs and projects aimed at improving the psychological well-being of adolescents.