The Influence of Social and Demographic Characteristics on Modern Students’ Self-confidence and Assertiveness

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study, using various methods, the influence of gender, level of economic well-being, university status, origin and year of study on the self-confidence and assertiveness of modern students studying within the Bologna system (from 1 to 3 courses). As a result of the analysis of theoretical, scientific and practical bibliographic sources on the research problem, we present foreign researchers’ various points of view on the concepts of «self-confidence», «assertiveness» and what influences them. The research sample consisted of 315 participants, 110 men and 205 women, aged 18 to 30 years (M = 20.5). The participants were the representatives of higher educational institutions from the Republic of Moldova (Western Europe) and volunteers from the Internet, students of full-time and part-time education. The results of the study showed that students of private universities are more self-confident and assertive than students of state ones; male students are more self-confident than female students, but equal in assertiveness; students with a high level of economic well-being turned out to be the most confident and assertive, students with an average level of economic well-being were slightly less self-confident and assertive, and students with a low level of economic well-being turned out to be the least confident and assertive; students from rural areas are more self-confident, but equal in assertiveness with urban ones; 2nd year students are more self-confident and assertive than students 3 and 1, whose assertiveness is equal. Self-confidence has long been of growing interest among researchers, because this quality makes people happy, promotes all-round development, increases communication efficiency, and its absence impedes personal development and reduces efficiency. Assertive behavior is also important for modern students because it is based on balance. A person is frank about his intentions, but at the same time he/she considers the rights and needs of other people. In this case, the student is confident and draws from this the strength to state his/her point of view in a firmly fair and balanced way.