Gender characteristics of students' self-efficacy development

Introduction. Promotion of psychological well-being and positive mental health of Ukrainians acquires special significance in wartime and post-war recovery. Self-efficacy/personal effectiveness, which contributes to the establishment of an ecologically comfortable personal status in the systems "self-self", "self - activity", "self - others", "self - society", is a factor that helps preserve mental health of the individual. Aim: to analyze the gender characteristics of the development of self-efficacy/personal effectiveness at the initial stage of students' university studies. Methods: a theoretical and methodological analyses of the problem of self-efficacy; a conceptual review of the latest Ukrainian and foreign scientific explorations; analysis (comparative, apperceptive, comparative) of experimental material, as well as the conceptual-experimental approaches to determining the levels of self-efficacy - the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995). Results. Self-efficacy of students of socionomic professions was analyzed from two perspectives: self-efficacy as a value of a young person at the initial stage of university studies; the gender-specific features of the development of self-efficacy at the initial stage of university studies. Conclusions. Self-efficacy as a determinant of the development of the individual as a "system of systems" (Kostiuk, 1989) and as an internal resource for the stability of positive health acquires special significance in the educational and social space of today. In the modern conditions of crisis, self-efficacy retains the status of a valuable personal determinant. The self-acceptance of the significance of students' personal effectiveness at the initial stage of university studies was highlighted and the gender characteristics of the self-efficacy of students of socionomic professions were established at a statistically significant level. Besides, it was shown that self-efficacy of students of socionomic professions of different genders tended to depend on students' age.