MEANINGFULNESS OF LIFE AND VOLUNTEERS’ PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Aim. To analyze approaches to the study of psychological aspects of volunteer activity; and to test the hypothesis that there are specific features in life meaningfulness and volunteers’ personal responsibility. Methodology. The authors analyzed scientific papers and empirical material about the psychological aspects of volunteer activity. The article presents the study results about special features of life meaning and personal responsibility among volunteers and non-volunteers. The study involved 186 people, of which 163 were women, and 23 were men, the age of respondents was 18-62 years. 96 people were volunteers and 90 - were non-volunteers. The following methods were used in the research: “Life-purpose orientations test”, the technique “Life Purpose,” “Level of subjective control,” multidimensional-functional diagnosis of responsibility “OTV-70”, a test of resilience. Results. The study results showed statistically significant differences in measures of a meaningful life, locus of control, and aspects of responsibility in groups of volunteers and non-volunteers. Volunteers also expressed a leader orientation. Volunteers had higher indicators of the harmony of the implementation of life’s purposes and showed greater responsibility and self-control in activities. Situational indecision and conformism were expressed among volunteers much less than in the non-volunteer group. A meaningful analysis showed that the semantic profiles of meaningfulness of life’s destinations in verbal terms in the compared groups also differed. Research implications. The work contributes to the study of the psychological aspects of volunteering, the data obtained can be useful in the preparation of career guidance programs in volunteer movements, training for the formation and updating of the important professional qualities of future volunteers, and the prevention of emotional burnout, as well as form the basis for the study of the psychological mechanisms of the development of the stability of the personality of a volunteer in conditions of adaptation and critical situations.

volunteer, volunteering, responsibility, the meaningfulness of life, life destination

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