Trust to Oneself as a Condition of Autonomy Development in Adolescence

Abstract

Introduction. The current situation places a special focus on the issues of freedom of choice, responsibility, self-actualization, and decision-making discretion. Autonomy as a new formation of the adolescence age becomes of special importance. It expresses itself in life-defining decisions when a person makes their first independent steps. In this sense, the factors that influence the development of autonomy in adolescence should be paid close attention.Purpose. We will consider characteristics of personality autonomy with different types of trust relationships in adolescence.Materials and Methods. The sample consists of young men and women aged 15–17 years. For the research, we used: “Self-Measurement of the Trust to Oneself” method (T. P. Skripkina); “Autonomy Questionnaire” (O. A. Karabanova, N. N. Poskrebysheva); “Examining of Trust/Distrust to the World, to Other People and то Oneself” method (A. B. Kupreichenko); “Level of Subjective Control” questionnaire (E. F. Bazhin, E. A. Golykin, A. M. Etkind). Statistical methods were as follows: The Mann-Whitney U test and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.Results. In the course of studying the impact of trust and trust relationships on autonomy development in adolescence, we justified and empirically confirmed the thesis: trust to oneself is a condition of autonomy development in adolescence, and autonomy development in this age differs according to the type of trust relationships.Discussion and Conclusion. As appears, at the stage of adolescence trust to oneself acts as a condition of autonomy development. Different types of trust relationships create a difference in the development of personality autonomy between young men and women. The most favourable conditions for the growth of personality autonomy are indicated in the certain trust relationships in which trust to oneself dominates over trust to the world.