Personal Security Concepts of Law Students

Abstract

The work is aimed at identifying the structural, substantive and comparative features of personal security concepts of law students. The results of an empirical study conducted on a sample of students studying in a legal specialty are presented. The study (N=120) involved respondents aged 18 to 21 years (M=19.7±1.3), of which 81.7% were male. The main research method used is the method of free associations. The results were processed using the simplest mathematical statistics (finding averages, spread, percentage distribution) and a nonparametric method — the Pearson criterion χ2. The obtained results showed that law students have personal security concepts that are built according to a similar scheme, including, depending on the focus on danger/security, elements of "wrong/right actions", "undesirable/desirable future", "negative/positive reality", "bad/good people". These concepts are differentiated depending on their correlation with the household or professional sphere, differing in the dominance of objectivity/ subjectivity and internality / externality; they contain signs of professionalism and are associated with manifestations of the Self-concept of personality. The results of the study have explanatory potential for cases of security violations by lawyers in everyday life and in the profession.