Leоnova Elena V.

Background. The relevance of studying the youth safety culture (SC) in various spheres of life is due to a significant change in the structure of risks coming along with the development of Internet and digital technologies.

Objective. The empirical study had its purpose to reveal the intrapersonal and subjective determinants of the youth SC taking into consideration its gender specificity, as well as to describe the types of youth SC as per the attitude to different safety components.

Methods. The study implemented the standardized questionnaires TIPI-RU, Brief- Cope, PIL, RFQ, assessments of self-confirmation patterns as well as ad hoc developed technique for evaluating the youth SC and its components (public, personal, financial, and data security). Data analysis was carried out using multivariate statistical methods (ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), factor analysis, cluster analysis, correlation analysis), Student’s t-test and Fisher’s F-test.

Sample. The study involved 1469 university students (545 boys, 924 girls, mean age 20.34 years).

Results. of the study revealed certain gender differences in the youth SC: young women have a significantly higher indicator of personal safety, while young men dominate in all other components and the integral indicator of SC. Cluster analysis allowed for identifying 4 types of SC according to the rates of different SC components. The revealed types of SC differ in the personality characteristics, meaningfulness of life, preferred coping strategies, focus of regulation, and self-confirmation patterns.

Conclusion. It was established that youth security culture is more a consequence of comprehension (as well as learning) than a personality conditioned phenomenon. The study substantiated the expediency of individually oriented proactive approach to the formation of the students’ SC.