Features of the time perspective in youth, depending on the level of education received: the results of a comparative study

Shilova Natalia Petrovna ORCID: 0000-0003-1511-840X PhD in Psychology Deputy Head of the Federal Supervision Service for Education and Science 129323, Russia, g. Moscow, pr-d Lazorevyi, 1 npshilova@outlook.com Other publications by this author

Introduction

In adolescence, people try to figure out who they are and what kind of adult life they want for themselves ^[15]. Today's boys and girls are often in a state of uncertainty. They want to find a profession and a job related to personal interests, but modern macroeconomic trends are developing in such a way that it is difficult for them to decide on a future profession, find an interesting job or keep an existing one. The socio-cultural environment surrounding boys and girls provokes them to think about their own future. Accordingly, all studies examining ideas about the future in adolescence and the age of early adulthood are more than relevant.

Ideas about the future are a part of a person's life, and form a subjective image of his development. Thus, G. Allport writes that: "what a person expects largely determines what he thinks or does ^[7]. Empirical data emphasize the importance of the construction of a temporary perspective of the future for the formation of well-being, motivation and behavior of an individual in the present ^{[18; 21]}, as well as its relationship with aging processes ^{[17; 19]}. In the works of N.N. Tolstykh, there is a large body of research on age-specific perspectives of the future [see, for example, 1; 3]. For example, it is noted that for the design of the future by schoolchildren at the age of early adolescence, the time period of schooling becomes important ^[1], but data on the significance of this period for boys and girls receiving secondary vocational education is not provided.

Zh. Nutten is the creator of a methodological approach that is used by a large number of researchers of the image of the future. In theory, J. Nyutten's future is a space of motivation. The different depth of focus on the future is associated with such objects in which needs manifest themselves. The future is a platform for creating human behavior and development ^[6], which, in general, echoes the ideas of G. Allport. A person's behavior is related to what scale of the future he sees, and what or who is the object of his motivation. An important point in the theory of J. Nutten's goal is to divide the objects of motivation into temporal (time characteristics) and meaningful ones. At the same time, A.Y. Bukharina and N.N. Tolstykh note that in youth it is the temporal characteristics that become the most significant ^[1]. Accordingly, the behavior of a young man / girl is largely determined by the time period that is motivating for him/her or in other words the most significant.

Existing studies confirm that expanded views on the future are associated with positive life outcomes ^{[19; 21]}. In particular, it has been proven that a long-term perspective of the future is positively associated with subjective well-being ^[12], with psychological well-being ^[18] and with life satisfaction ^{[16; 19]}. Thus, a long-term time perspective is important not only for understanding human behavior in the present tense, but also for interpreting his internal psychological state.

Reviews of empirical studies conducted with older adolescents, boys/girls, and young people in their early adulthood from different cultural backgrounds ^{[19; 22]} indicate that their future time perspective is mainly associated with future education and profession, family and financial goals. In addition, some of their future goals indicate public concern about issues of war and peace, the environment, economic stability and unemployment. Foreign researchers have shown that as boys/girls grow up, they reduce the importance of goals in the field of education and friendship for goals related to travel, work and family ^[22]. Some studies ^{[20; 22]} have also suggested that young people who report goals related to age-related problems and requirements (for example, choosing a job or profession) show higher well-being. These studies were conducted on samples of schoolchildren and university students, and in some cases [for example, 19], comparative studies of respondents studying at a university with adults are given. However, when it comes to the system of secondary vocational education (SPE), there are few such studies. Despite the fact that OECD data show that more than 58% of Russians aged 25 to 34 have higher education, in recent years there has been a change in the trend - about half of all fifteen-year-old young people enroll in vocational training organizations (about 700 thousand people according to Rosstat) ^[11]. By choosing vocational education, young people strive to acquire specific, easily applicable skills in practice. SPE students are distinguished by their desire to avoid risks and modest requirements, about 40% of them, after graduation, work for low wages in unskilled jobs, despite higher qualifications ^[8]. This may be due to difficulties in understanding their future for these boys/girls.

Considering that, in general, the issues related to the influence of educational conditions on the formation of a temporary perspective of the future remain unexplored, it must be remembered that education is an institution that reproduces and develops culture, forms a person adapted to certain conditions, and provides the transmission of unique meanings and ways of interacting with the world ^[12]. It is at the educational institute that youth representatives begin to master the time of their lives. However, the existing forms of such institutions do not always contribute to gaining experience in the formation and retention of their temporary capabilities. So, despite the large number of studies on the problem of time perspective in youth ^{[1; 2; 3; 9; 13; 23 and others]}, there remains an undoubted lack of data on the features associated with the level of education received.

Thus, after analyzing existing research on the future, we assumed that there are differences in the characteristics of the time perspective of boys and girls related to the level of education received. The purpose of this study was to study the differences in the characteristics of the time perspective in adolescence, depending on the level of education received. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the time perspective in youth, related to the level of education received. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the features of the time perspective in youth associated with studying in educational institutions such as schools, institutions of secondary special education or universities have been identified. These features significantly complement the existing data on the age characteristics of the time perspective in adolescence.

Sampling and research methodology

In the course of the study, we applied the method of unfinished sentences of J. Nyutten. Within the framework of the methodology of unfinished sentences, J. We used 20 phrases formulated in a positive and 10 in a negative form. The study participants completed phrases expressing their expectations. The processing was carried out using a time code and a content analysis code, according to the scheme proposed by Nutten.

We identified those categories that were significant for our sample, guided by the idea of J. Nuttin says that in some cases, certain categories of analysis may be missing. From the point of view of the temporal characteristics of social life, we have identified three periods: schooling, vocational education after school and the period of professional autonomy, or work. In relation to life periods and calendar time, the subjects used various characteristics such as the open present, historical future, future and period in the interval of one day.

The respondents' answers were coded by experts with a degree in psychology or pedagogy. The total number of experts involved in data processing was 3 people. The experts coded each statement of the respondent according to the categories proposed by J.However, if the assigned codes differed, the decision was made collectively based on the results of the discussion. After encoding the responses, the number of mentions of each category was summed up, and we obtained quantitative variables for each category for each respondent. Thus, the possible range of the number of statements in each category for each respondent was from 0 to 30 mentions.

Statistical data processing was carried out using the software package "SPSS" (version 21.0). The analysis of variance was carried out to find dependencies in the experimental data by examining the significance of differences in the mean values.

The study sample consisted of 1,343 people, aged 15 to 23, including: 462 schoolchildren (34.4% of the sample); 454 students of the vocational education system (33.8%); 427 university students (31.8%).

The results of the study

Based on the idea of N.N. Tolstykh that the variability of time perspectives in adolescence depends more on temporal, rather than on meaningful parameters of motivation ^[1], we first studied the main differences in time characteristics depending on the level of education.

The average quantitative data for each category in the context of groups of respondents studying at educational institutions of different levels are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. The average number of respondents using time perspective categories, depending on the level of education they receive

The average number of statements for each characteristic ranged from 0.08 (the time period "schooling" for respondents studying at a university) to 8.76 (the time period "the future" for respondents studying at a university). The highest value was 22 for several analysis categories, and the lowest value was 0 for all analysis categories. Next, the dependencies in the experimental data were searched by examining the significance of differences in the mean values

The data on the identified differences are presented in tables 2-7.

Table 2. Comparison of indicators of the time characteristic of "schooling" and the level of educational organization of the subject (Tukey Post-Hoc Test for ANOVA analysis of variance)

** significantly at 0.01

Tables 2 and 3 present the results of the analysis of variance for the time characteristic "schooling" relative to the level of the educational organization in which the subject is studying. The analysis of variance demonstrated the presence of significant differences in the use of the time period "schooling" by age (F(2;379.54) = 112.733, p = 0.000). There is a significant relationship between the use of the time characteristic "schooling" and the level of education received by the subject. Insignificant differences were revealed between the groups of students at the vocational school and at the university. Accordingly, in professional education organizations, regardless of whether they are universities or colleges, the importance of the time period "schooling" for building a temporary perspective of the future is the same. The differences are significant between students at school and in vocational training organizations, and between students at school and students at university.

The next period of the time perspective of the future, which turned out to be significant for our sample, is "vocational education after school".

Table 4. Comparison of indicators of the time characteristic of "vocational training" and the level of the educational organization of the subject (Tukey Post-Hoc Test for ANOVA analysis of variance)

Tables 4 and 5 present the results of the analysis of variance for the time characteristic "vocational education after school" relative to the level of the educational organization in which the subjects study. The analysis of variance demonstrated the presence of significant differences in the use of the time period "vocational education after school" from the level of education received (F(2;767) = 24,897, p = 0.000). There is a significant relationship between the use of the time characteristic "vocational education after school" and the level of education received by the subject. Insignificant differences were found between groups of schoolchildren and university students. The differences between the other age groups are significant. Accordingly, the importance of the time period "vocational education after school" for building a temporary perspective on the future of vocational education students differs from the subjects studying in schools and universities. That is, when designing their time perspective of the future, college students are statistically significantly more likely to take into account the time interval "vocational education after school".

The next period of the time perspective of the future, which turned out to be significant for our sample, is "professional autonomy, work".

Table 6. Comparison of indicators of the time characteristic "professional autonomy, work" and the level of educational organization of the subject (Tukey Post-Hoc Test for ANOVA analysis of variance)

Tables 6 and 7 present the results of the analysis of variance for the time characteristic "professional autonomy, work" relative to the level of education received by the subjects. The analysis of variance demonstrated the presence of significant differences in the use of the time period "professional autonomy, work" with the level of education received (F(2;767) = 4,356, p = 0.013). There is a significant relationship between the use of the time characteristic "professional autonomy, work" and the level of education received by the subjects. Significant connections were found between the groups of university students and schoolchildren, as well as university students and students of vocational education. Insignificant differences were revealed between schoolchildren and students of secondary vocational education. That is, when designing their time perspective of the future, university students are statistically significantly more likely to take into account the time interval "professional autonomy, work".

There were no significant differences between the use of the time intervals "open present", "future", "historical future", as well as "in the interval of the day" with the level of education received by the respondents. Accordingly, boys and girls aged 15-23 years, regardless of the level of education they receive, use the time intervals of "one day" in approximately the same way, as well as their own future, including for all people, not just their own.

Discussion of the results

So, the time perspective of boys and girls is significantly transformed during adolescence, depending on the level of education received. Some of these transformations are obvious and conditioned by social reality. So, for example, the future of teenagers, and young men and girls of early adolescence, studying at school is very much focused on the time period "schooling", and for young men and girls of early adolescence college students, this is the time of "vocational education after school".

When designing the time perspective of the future, schoolchildren use the "schooling" time interval statistically significantly more often. On the one hand, these data are obvious, but on the other hand, they clarify the data of previous studies ^[3], that statements to pass exams well, graduate well and perfectly, or already take a break from school are typical not just for subjects of adolescence and early adolescence, but only for those of them who who study at school, but not for those who have started studying in the organization of vocational education and training.

When designing the time perspective of the future, the time interval "vocational education after school" is statistically significantly more often used by boys and girls studying in educational institutions of secondary vocational education. These data clarify the previous ones, that statements about a good graduation, closing a session, not being expelled or going to university after graduating from college are more typical not just for subjects of early adolescence, but mainly for those of them who study at colleges and other organizations PDF systems. This is less relevant for schoolchildren and university students. Previous studies have often noted insufficient motivation to learn, modest educational achievements among secondary school students and lack of ability to use additional educational resources ^{[5; 11]}. The results obtained by us give a new message to the study of the educational motivation of this category of boys/girls.

When designing the time perspective of the future, the time characteristic "professional autonomy, work" is used statistically significantly more often by university students. Statements about finding an interesting, but at the same time well-paid job, about becoming successful and rich, about finding your place in the professional industry are significantly increasing. These data clarify the previous ones, since the use of the time interval "professional autonomy, work" is more typical not only for boys and girls of late adolescence and the age of youth or the onset of adulthood ^[10], but mainly for those of them who study at higher educational institutions.

Conclusion

The temporal perspective of the future of modern boys and girls is significantly transformed during adolescence, including depending on the level of education received.

The future of boys and girls studying at school is focused on the time period "schooling", and for boys and girls studying at colleges, the future is the time of "vocational education after school".

The future of male and female university students is focused on the time period "professional autonomy, work", but this is not relevant for college students. And in general, college students and schoolchildren of early adolescence very rarely use this time interval to design their future.

The author's scientific contribution to the study of the topic was to clarify the available data on the formation of a time perspective in youth. The prospects of the conducted research are, first of all, the study of educational conditions within educational institutions where boys and girls study, as well as the formation of recommendations for the development of a temporary future perspective for psychologists working with boys and girls in schools, vocational training organizations and universities.