Psychological Well-Being and Adherence to the Norms of Femininity of Female Students Mastering Helping Professions in a Regional and Metropolitan University

Objective. Determination of the specifics of the relationship between psychological well-being and adherence to the normative model of traditional femininity based on the example of female students mastering helping professions at the medical and psychological faculties of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod universities. Background. In the context of social instability and the constant growth of negative impacts on a person there is a need for detail study of psychological well-being and the specifics of the connection with it of other socio-psychological and personal phenomena. At the same time, the changed socio-cultural context of personality development as a gender subject, caused along with the traditional emergence of new egalitarian norms, in particular, femininity, actualizes the problem of the relationship between the psychological well-being of a woman's personality and the degree of adherence to traditional gender standards. Study design. The relationship between the level of psychological well-being and the degree of adherence to the traditional model of femininity among female students of psychological and medical faculties of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod universities was studied. To analyze the data the Student's t-test, the Mann-Whitney U-test, correlation analysis (Spearman's coefficient), and the Fisher coefficient were used. Participants. Sample: 92 female persons, 42 students of psychological faculties and 50 students of medical faculties of the 1st and 2nd years of higher education in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod aged 18 to 23 years (M=19,53; SD=1,11). Measurements. Questionnaire "Scale of psychological well-being" by K. Riff (adaptation by T.D. Shevelenkovа and P.P. Fesenko), Questionnaire "Norms of female behavior" by I.S. Kletsina, E.V. Joffe. Results. The average level of psychological well-being was found in the entire sample, while there are differences in female students of psychology and medicine between the scales of "Environment Management" and "Personal growth". The sample of female students of medical faculties of regional university shows a greater commitment to traditional norms of female behavior, and their well-being is more associated with traditional femininity. Conclusions. The relationship between psychological well-being and adherence to the norms of femininity in female students mastering helping professions in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod universities is established.