Ideas of adolescents about the criteria of normative assessment

Statement of the problem and purpose. Despite the expressed public and scientific interest in the specifics of the life of young people in a changing world and the declared readiness to understand their own guidelines, the ideas of modern adolescents about the criteria for normative assessment have not received due research attention. In this regard, a study was made of ideas about the criteria for normative assessment of adolescents with different experience of interaction with normative regulators accepted in society. The research methodology is based on understanding of positive (priority) and negative (delinquency and deviance) boundaries as key determinants of the norm. The questionnaire method revealed adolescents’ ideas about how they themselves, their peers and adults determine the criteria for unacceptable and unworthy things and for a source of pride. The study sample consisted of 260 respondents: female and male adolescents, students of urban secondary schools; female adolescent - victims of sexual violence; male adolescents who have committed unlawful acts of violent nature; female students of a closed educational institution. Research results. The questionnaire survey made it possible to determine the main categories of evaluation criteria used by adolescents: “Criminal potential”, “Personal weakness/resource”, “Ethics”, “Relationships”, “Social failure/ success”. When analyzing the results of the study, trends were identified that characterize the sample as a whole and each of the groups of respondents in terms of the ratio of evaluation criteria for different categories. General trends: the least subjective understanding for adolescents of opinions about the criteria for normative evaluation of peers in comparison with the opinions of adults and friends. Evaluation of one’s position as more intolerant than the positions of other subjects in relation to criminogenic actions; the priority of the representation of the category “Criminal potential” in the assessment of the unworthy, the category “Ethics” in the assessment of the unacceptable and the category “Social Success” in the assessment of the subject of pride; lower representation of the categories “Relationships” and “Personal weakness/resourcefulness” than in the specialized priority categories in all gradations of normative assessment. Trends that characterize the views of certain groups of respondents: among male adolescents who have committed unlawful acts of violent nature, the criteria of the “Ethics” category are presented much more heavily than among other adolescents, and manifestations of a positive attitude are a priority for pride; in the views of female adolescents who have been victims of sexual violence, social success as a basis for pride is represented more than in other adolescents, the positive pole of the category “Personal weakness / resourcefulness” is completely absent in the criteria for normative assessment, and the criteria for the category “Ethics” are absent in the characteristics of one’s own opinion and the opinion of peers about a source of pride. Female students of a closed educational institution think they understand the opinions of different subjects about what is unacceptable, and these opinions are of a similar nature. Social success as a source of pride is important for them much more than for others, and failure is not considered either by the students themselves or people around them as something unacceptable. Conclusion. The results of the study open up prospects for the development of psychologically based technologies for dialogue with modern adolescents.