Psychological content and genesis factors of professional development crisis among students of higher education institutions

The article provides the results of a research of psychological content of “professional development crisis” and its genesis factors among students of the St-Petersburg State University (53 students of the 3rd course, department of psychology). The stated subject is viewed in the context of tasks of age-related development in the early adulthood and is studied with the aid of a specially made questionnaire of critical experiences. Groups of students with expressed and unexpressed critical experiences are compared. Personal factors which help students to successfully cope with such crisis are identified. It is shown that the factors of professional choice and education, such as a considered choice of profession, self-realisation in the process of education at a higher education institution, existence of a professional plan of receiving additional education, reduce the intensity of experience of professional crisis among students. Keywords: period of entering adulthood, professional crisis, development tasks, professional identity, critical experiences, attitude towards professional future, personal resources.