CRISIS PERIODS IN DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN LATE TEENS AND EARLY YOUTH

Abstract

An indicator of a learning agent being mature in his or her attitude is the ability to plan postschool and post-university activities. Professional identity formation is not a single act — it is a process in which, during a certain period of psychological development, both intellectual and emotional factors are at work. This article analyses some aspects of career planning in upper school, as well as plans, intentions, and expectations of university students regarding their future jobs. The study of older pupils was conducted in comprehensive schools; the study involving students was conducted in one of Moscow arts universities. It has been found that there are signs of psychological crisis in professional identity formation process among eleventh-formers and second-to-third year students. The internal crisis factor common to both age groups is that both suffer from a situation of uncertainty regarding future education and/or work. The nature of this suffering in the two groups is, however, different. Older teenagers experience it due to motivational imbalance in choosing one’s career field, profession within it, and the appropriate university. As for students, it results from poor understanding of their own abilities if engaged in prospective activity relevant to one’s profession of choice, as well as from anxiety about and expectations of possible failure.