SELF-ESTEEM OF STUDENTS WHO COMBINE STUDY AND WORK

Abstract

The article describes the features of self-esteem of students combining study and work. More and more often modern youth makes a decision to go to work while studying at higher education institutions. A variety of reasons prompt them to make this decision, from the desire to develop their practical skills to the desire to earn money, from the need to provide for themselves to the wish to help their relatives. Choosing this particular job, making a decision to go to work is built on the basis of self-esteem, which a young person studying in an educational institution has. The self-esteem of a person is considered from two points. As a holistic characteristic which is expressed in specific concepts such as self-attitude, self-worth, and as a characteristic of particular activity indicators, abilities and important qualities which are a basis of successful professional activity. Frequently, along with self-esteem is used (or is replaced with) a concept of ‘self-attitude’. Self-attitude has acquired its own content, but it approaches a holistic personal self-esteem. The results of the empirical study of features of the self-esteem of students who work while studying in higher education institutions are presented. It was empirically established that the most of students who combine work and study demonstrate higher level of self-esteem. The self-assessment of such personality qualities such as health, abilities, character, authority among peers, ability to do thing with their own hands, appearance and self-confidence, mainly showed that those students who combine work and study manifest higher levels of both aspiration and self-esteem. It was found that the group of students combining study and work showed higher indicators of self-confidence, self-direction, reflected self and self-worth, and at the same time lower indicators of self-blame and internal conflict. Students who start working while still studying, regardless of the motivation that prompted them to make such a decision, value their personality, their achievements, their importance, know how to manage themselves and their time, believe that others perceive them positively, and, obviously, they are more successful and have higher indicators of psychological well-being.