STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT WELL-BEING

Abstract

There is a need in society to understand ways to achieve and improve well-being. To do this, it is necessary to consider perceptions about well-being in different social groups. 1st-2nd year students of higher educational institutions are the social capital of the country. It is important to understand what constitutes the content of well-being for them, since this can determine their further social behavior. The purpose of the study is to identify the content of students’ perceptions about well-being. Methods. The study involved 1st and 2nd year university students, a total of 258 people. The research method was a modified free association technique: students were asked to give three associations in the form of verbs, adjectives, and nouns (nine associations). Data processing: frequency analysis, calculation of ranks. Results. As a result of data collection, 2322 associations were identified among students, the structuring of which made it possible to obtain 51 associative groups, which were subsequently combined into 16 semantic groups and interpreted meaningfully. The semantic space of the concept of “well-being” is structured according to emotional and motivational-need characteristics. The emotional component of well-being includes positive emotions of varying degrees of intensity. The motivational-need component mainly presents needs related to meeting the needs for physical comfort, safety, basic life support and material support. Conclusions. In the content of university students’ perceptions about well-being, the most significant position is occupied by the parameters of the emotional sphere. In the minds of students, well-being is, first of all, calm joy or happiness associated with emotional stability. Also, in terms of content, perceptions about well-being are focused on basic and material needs.