Adolescents and the pandemic: a profile of self-reliance.

Abstract

The current study is focused on the autonomy of adolescents at the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic before the quarantine measures were introduced. Online study involved 1,044 first-year students of secondary educational institutions in nine cities of Russia(meanage M=16.6. years, SD=0.80). The battery of questionnaires is described in the body of the paper. According to the results, thelevel of readiness for independent life was foundto beabove average. The profile of independence significantly associated withsocio-demographic measures. The greatest statistical value of the difference between the groups was revealed by the "Perseverance" subscale of the "Self-organization of activity" questionnaire. The highest level of perseverance was found in respondents from small cities. Among the most unclaimed life trajectories were the regression and the perception of the pandemic situation as thedead end. In our opinion, this indicates the participants' desire for self-development at this stage and a visionof a positive future. Based on the results we developed a profile of respondents' independence in different spheres of life. This profile can be at hand for the specialists working with adolescents and for the secondary educational institutions in order to build an educational strategy.