The individual independence of Russians in the context of global challenges

The sovereignty and independence of the country require the individual independence, responsibility, and creativity of its citizens. The empirical study is aimed at studying the independence of Russians against the background of global threats and challenges and consists of two parts. In the first part, the independence of Russians is studied in the structure of the volitional profile of five qualities (using the modified methodology of N.B. Stambulova) as well as in connection with agency (the Perspectives Questionnaire) and attitudes about life plans in the economic sphere of life. The second part of the work deals with the attitude of Russians toward global challenges and threats and their possible consequences for the country. The study involved 1 629 people. The sample is balanced by gender and age and covers different regions of the country. Russians perceive the possibility of nuclear war and biogenic threats as the most dangerous threats. Much greater fears and concerns are caused by the possible internal consequences for the country from global challenges (wars, revolutions, chaos, economic deterioration, loss of cultural identity, and territorial integrity). The volitional profile of Russians in the context of global threats is characterized by a high level of purposefulness, perseverance, determination, self-control and an average level of independence manifestation. At the same time, the generalization of independence (its manifestation in different life situations) turned out, on the contrary, to be high. The balance is revealed between the agency and recipient types of life perspectives, with the dominance of the agency type, which is more characterized by manifestations of generalized independence, internality, and responsibility, that should be taken into account in the process of training and educating citizens. The study also made it possible to solve the methodological problem of approbation and the first stage of adaptation (translation with a native speaker, verification of constructive validity and reliability) of the Perspectives Questionnaire, which in the future can be used in pedagogical practice when teaching adults.