Introduction
The current stage of development in Russian society necessitates strengthening work with young people in the area of patriotic education and the development of patriotic personal qualities. Young people represent a distinct social group, whose well-being determines the prospects for the state and development of Russian society as a whole. The largest contingent of this social group are students, who are at a significant stage in their lives, associated with acquiring a profession, entering a new spectrum of social relationships, and continuing their personal development. It should be noted that student life is characterized not only by resource parameters but also by risks, including those of a psychological nature. Various sources of information and representatives of the public sphere, including the media, exert a spontaneous influence on young people, largely shaping their worldview, setting the vectors of aspirations, criteria for satisfaction with life and its quality, as well as their value orientations. Of course, as we know, the first school is the family, which, through the educational process, forms the fundamental foundations of a child's future life, largely determining the characteristics of their well-being. The educational process continues to influence the personality of a developing and maturing individual at the level of preschool, school, and supplementary education, as well as in organizations implementing vocational education programs.
The educational influence exerted is intended to shape socially significant qualities and characteristics in the maturing individual and to ensure their well-being by developing a system of life coordinates and value orientations that are significant for a particular society, in this case, Russia.
Currently, Russia and its citizens are experiencing a difficult historical period, caused by events related to the special military operation. In this context, the demand for patriotic expressions has increased, and the problematic and deficient characteristics of this area of public life have become more acute. Despite the fact that the special military operation is supported by the majority, there is no unity in society regarding it. It should be noted that the phenomenon of the special military operation has become a catalyst for internal social characteristics, both positive and destructive. Current events have revealed the problem of an axiological crisis, value disorientation, and the presence of distorted ideological positions, including anti-patriotic ones, present in Russian society. This is due to the crisis-ridden social trends that peaked in the 1990s and whose influence continues to this day. It should be emphasized that representatives of the younger generation are directly exposed to informational influences, both patriotic and anti-patriotic, which determines the formation of their value orientation or disorientation, creating the preconditions for the presence of options associated with supporting the Fatherland and acting in its interests, or demonstrating a different, essentially anti-Russian position. As noted in 1 Corinthians: "All things are permissible for me, but not all things are helpful." This expression accurately summarizes the state of affairs in this context.
In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 9, 2022, No. 809, "On Approval of the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values" [8], traditional values are moral guidelines that shape the worldview of Russian citizens, are passed down from generation to generation, underpin the all-Russian civic identity and the country's unified cultural space, and strengthen civic unity, which has found its unique, distinctive manifestation in the spiritual, historical, and cultural development of the multinational people of Russia. Traditional values include: life, dignity, human rights and freedoms, patriotism, citizenship, service to the Fatherland and responsibility for its fate, high moral ideals, a strong family, creative work, the priority of the spiritual over the material, humanism, mercy, justice, collectivism, mutual assistance and mutual respect, historical memory, the continuity of generations, and the unity of the peoples of Russia.
Patriotism is a crucial moral and ethical characteristic of the individual, understood as a multifaceted and multi-aspect phenomenon, representing a complex set of properties and characteristics that manifest themselves differently at different levels of social system functioning. At the level of the individual, patriotism can be considered one of the components of the personality substructure and is classified as a higher emotion and stable personality trait (values, beliefs, norms of behavior, criteria for evaluating social phenomena) [4].
Thus, the distortion of patriotic value-based and ideological positions determines the socio-psychological status of a citizen as disharmonious, since even being convinced of their own rightness, they enter into both conscious and subconscious external and internal conflicts arising from ideological, semantic, and life contradictions and historically conditioned personal and social guidelines that are unformed or presented in a distorted form. These mechanisms are activated because the value orientations of Russian society, although enshrined in legislative and regulatory acts, are not defined by the state system, which merely formalized their status in the ideological and legal framework, but rather have deep roots in their origins and transmission over many centuries from generation to generation. This determines their traditional nature: with their presence and the conditions, priorities, and guidelines they set, Russian society, which has reached its present stage in development, was formed. It is no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed considering patriotism as a national idea. Essentially, this value category generalizes all other types of traditional values, as it manifests itself in each of them. For example, loyalty to one's family and the desire to support and protect it are identical to processes dictated by patriotic feelings for the Motherland and are also a manifestation of a certain type of patriotism. It's no coincidence that in the historical Russian tradition, the categories of "family" and "Fatherland" have always closely intersected at the level of values and meanings. The value of creative labor also represents a manifestation of patriotism: a responsible attitude toward work and an understanding of its significance for the Motherland in the context of ensuring the country's sustainable development and the well-being of its citizens foster an understanding of the need to act in the interests of the country and Russian society and serve as a criterion for evaluating actions and decisions made in situations of moral choice. The culture, system of relationships, ways of thinking, and value priorities of Russian society at various stages of its formation and development have shaped the list of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values reflected in the Presidential Decree. Falling outside the paradigm shaped by life itself and the cultural and historical process creates disharmonious predictors that hinder a person's full personal and social well-being. These significant civic-patriotic characteristics must undergo a process of internalization at the motivational and action level of personality development and expression in representatives of the younger generation. Failure at this level determines the crisis and turning points of interdependent, interconnected and dialectically united components: patriotic attitude, patriotic consciousness, patriotic activity [8].
It should be noted that the development of patriotic personality traits is important for all young people, including a special group—those who connect their professional lives with teaching and education or who find themselves involved in these tasks at certain stages of their professional development. In this context, it is relevant to consider the activities of students involved in working with children at children's health camps. Certainly, students studying pedagogical programs play a priority role in this regard; however, this activity is, in fact, relevant for all students, as students from any faculty, even those not specialized in teaching, are introduced at some point to counselor activities and practical training, preceded by training at the "Counselor School" and also facilitated by the activities of Russian Student Teams.
The Model Regulations on the Organization of Children's Recreation and Health Improvement for Seasonal or Year-Round Activities, approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on July 13, 2017, No. 656 [8], state that the primary activities of these organizations are aimed at providing services for children's recreation and health improvement. The scope of their activities is the organization and implementation of events aimed at the recreation, health improvement, and development of children. Among the goals of these activities is, among other things, ensuring the patriotic education of children. Thus, student youth groups are involved in the tasks of patriotic education of children. There is no doubt that the character and, to a certain extent, the outcome of the upbringing of children, albeit for a short time, entrusted to them by the state and society, depend on the development of patriotic personal qualities and ideological positions in students. Given that the practice of involving students in camp counselor activities is becoming increasingly widespread and is associated with the mandatory requirement to carry out patriotic work, the question of students' readiness for this work, not only in terms of competence but also in terms of psychological and ideological perspectives, is becoming relevant.
As already noted, students undergo targeted, specialized training prior to working with children. The theoretical and methodological foundations of patriotic work are the principles of the theory of patriotic education of children (Kamenkova L.V., Katukov A.M., Kerpelman E.L., Nikolaev O.S., Tsvetaev E.N., et al.), as well as the organization and content of work with children in a children's camp setting (Danilov A.A., Danilova N.S., Katerina A.A., Romm T.A., Torshin V.N., et al.).
In accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated December 25, 2018 No. 840 n "On approval of the professional standard "Specialist participating in the organization of the activities of a children's group (counselor)", as well as in connection with the draft Order "On approval of the professional standard "Counselor", the public discussion of which will be completed on December 16, 2025, based on the Federal program for the training of counselor personnel, as well as the Order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated March 17, 2025 No. 209 "On approval of the Federal program of educational work for organizations for children's recreation and their health improvement and the calendar plan of educational work, patriotic work is a mandatory element of interaction with children, regardless of the topic and profile of the shift.
We emphasize that not all youth may feel comfortable with such a task (as being a patriot and being able to cultivate patriotism represent different levels and conditions of its active manifestation). Consequently, they may find themselves in situations of personal conflict, psychological discomfort, stress, and the experience of failure and the inability to meet social expectations and assigned responsibilities. This, taken together, determines the level of psychological distress determined by the conditions of implementing the components or directly by professionally significant activities. This formulation served as the research hypothesis, based on the contradiction between social demand and the individual's personal readiness to solve specific problems. The aim of the study was to identify predictors of the psychological well-being of students participating in the implementation of patriotic education tasks in a children's camp setting. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the combination of aspects of psychological well-being and patriotic work, implemented temporarily in a temporary children's group, which is the key social unit of a children's camp, has not previously been subject to targeted study. The study involved 200 students from various universities in the Moscow region, both those majoring in teaching and those pursuing other professions.Of those surveyed, 84% identify as patriots. When asked, "How does this manifest itself?" 94% cited a feeling of love for their homeland, participation in patriotic events, and volunteering in this area. However, 4% were unsure, and 12% were unable to describe themselves in terms of patriotism.
Thus, we see that the majority of students exhibit a patriotic personality and activity. At the same time, their patriotic expressions require development and expansion of the forms of effective expression of patriotism. However, the main question arises regarding the 16% who are either undecided or deny their patriotic views. Although they are in the minority, they too will be working with children on patriotism, and as a result, they will experience difficulties. They will be unable to instill the necessary values in children, or will project inappropriate models.
Of those surveyed, 65% responded that they would be interested in learning about patriotic work methods; Thirty-five percent expressed no interest. The data obtained support the hypothesis that work with camp counselors should include the development of motivational components.
When asked about their interest in patriotic work and patriotic education, 40% of respondents said they were not interested. Thus, a contradiction was revealed: the majority of students adhere to patriotic positions but do not consider it possible to provide patriotic education to children.
Thus, students are aware of spiritual and moral values and identify patriotism as one of its categories, but this knowledge is insufficiently reflected in their lives, as well as in the content of their work with children and the information conveyed to them. This creates the preconditions for the work carried out with children to lack the necessary educational impact and be primarily limited to solving operational problems. Participation in patriotic activities is typical for student youth, but this is primarily limited to participation in patriotic events and campaigns, which requires a broader range of activities.
Thus, the study revealed that student youth are oriented toward patriotic values, but these are not fully developed, and are not always characterized by the necessary depth of meaning and the full implementation of their effective component. This means that the value is formed, but it does not permeate all aspects of young people's lives (for example, logical connections such as "I will study diligently to benefit the Motherland" were rare, etc.). Furthermore, a lack of readiness to work with children on patriotic work, which is mandatory in the structure of camp counselor activities, was revealed. Furthermore, youth were identified for whom patriotism does not hold the necessary value, and those who are unwilling and unprepared to engage in relevant work with children. Given these contradictions, problematic predictors of declining student psychological well-being are identified and will be discussed. The term "predictor" can be interpreted in two ways: as an initial characteristic of the individual and their environment, as well as a predictive indicator, acting as independent variables whose changes lead to changes in other dependent response variables [6].
In the context of the topic under consideration, students find themselves immersed in a new child-adult environment at a children's camp, which requires solving new, challenging tasks, a system of new relationships affecting the personal level, and an aspect of a complex spiritual and moral category—patriotic work. Given the type of psychological predictors, professional ones are relevant in this context. The attributes or independent variables used to construct predictors can be derived from two main sources. First and foremost, these are the individual's own characteristics. These can include a wide range of psychological characteristics, including communication style. Environmental factors—physical (spatial and objective) and social—are also significant. Moreover, depending on the content of the variables included in the predictors, which may represent only the individual's own characteristics or be complex in nature, including specific human traits in combination with the characteristic features of their living environment. Theoretically, the identification of predictors is based on two concepts: the integrity of human individuality and the continuity of individual development [6]. Students go through the path of development and formation in the profession, experiencing various states of both psychological well-being and ill-being.
Gavrilushkin S.A. studied the psychological specifics of the manifestation of personal responsibility in students of various patriotic orientations [5].
It should be noted that responsibility is a significant component of activity. Its opposite, manifested in irresponsibility, causes psychological and organizational discomfort not only to the individuals it affects but also to the irresponsible individual, as they inevitably encounter stressful and conflicting situations, rejection, and denial. Irresponsibility in the context of work, especially working with children, can have even more serious consequences. Individuals need mechanisms that will enable them to break the destructive psychological patterns that shape their behavior. Patriotic beliefs can be one such mechanism. Given the age and psychology of students, they are not always able to recognize these connections and accustom themselves to a new behavioral model. This requires either significant emotional impact (for example, when a student volunteer travels to border areas and encounters the realities of military life, seeing examples of courage, civic, and professional responsibility), or the necessary psychological and pedagogical guidance from an adult. When considering students who lack a strong sense of patriotic values in the context of patriotic work with children, it's clear they will experience discomfort at the very thought of participating in such work. Their interactions with children pose psychological and pedagogical risks, requiring timely identification and overcoming of negative tendencies and measures to prevent them from working with children.
Among today's students, a special social group formed by veterans of the special military operation (SMO). In accordance with state support measures, many of them have received broader opportunities to enroll in universities. Veterans of the SMO embody effective examples of patriotism, but their difficult life experiences impact their psychological well-being. Thus, their social adaptation, as well as the reintegration process after returning to civilian life, are not always smooth and are fraught with a number of difficulties. In particular, employers express concern about the insufficient level of psychological well-being among reserve officers, which indicates the need to improve psychological support and adaptation programs for this category of citizens [10].
The camp rotation cycle involves teamwork, interaction with a partner counselor, a senior counselor, educational organizers, methodologists, administration, and others. All of this requires a certain level of communicative and socio-psychological preparedness, which is not always demonstrated to the required level.
Another component is interaction with parents, including on issues of patriotic education of children. Students are not sufficiently familiar with the mechanisms of collaboration with them and do not understand their unique parental psychology, which leads to various difficulties, contradictions, and conflicts. Particularly challenging are cases where a camp counselor, driven by a desire to discuss the development of patriotic values in a child with parents, encounters anti-Russian views or the position that the parent holds patriotic positions but does not consider this work necessary in a children's camp setting, as the child comes to camp for rest and health improvement (Gomzyakova N.Yu., 2025).
The next component is that, at the present stage, veterans of the special military operation are actively involved in educational military-patriotic work with children at children's camps, conducting thematic workshops, patriotic discussions, and other activities with the children. Such collaboration requires a certain level of commitment from both the veterans, the camp staff, and the children themselves. Lack of preparedness on the part of each party to address the assigned tasks impacts not only the results of the work but also the psychological well-being of all participants.
It should be noted that the context of a student's psychological distress may arise in the context of interaction with a contingent of children who came to the camp from combat zones or frontline areas, or children whose relatives died during a special military operation.Interacting with them in the context of patriotic themes is associated with the activation of traumatic memories and emotional experiences. Working with such children has its own unique characteristics, and currently, the corresponding psychological and pedagogical methods are still being developed, in part through successful and less-than-successful interactions. Student representatives may themselves be part of this social group, which may determine their own unique psychological status. Students who are beginning to serve as camp counselors, especially those not studying pedagogical specialties, lack basic psychological competencies and are unprepared to work with children, especially those from complex social groups. They are unable to navigate the various options available in a given pedagogical situation. When confronted with negative reactions from children, they experience anxiety, may refuse to interact, seek to leave the camp, or request a change in placement. This, in some cases, leads to their forced mobility, including due to the motive of avoiding failure. The economic and social mobility of young people is of interest at the national level when examining economic inequality. Growing inequality can lead to social conflict, a deterioration in quality of life, including lower life expectancy, increased crime, decreased trust in government, and lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Inequality can also influence social mobility, as demonstrated by the so-called "Gatsby curve," in which the higher the degree of economic inequality, the lower the likelihood of social advancement. Mobility in this article refers to an improvement in one's position in society, both economically and socially. The study is based on the premise that mobility plays a fundamental role in explaining life satisfaction and happiness, while explicitly accounting for individual differences.A literature review reveals that scientific interest in the study of well-being dates back to ancient Greece. Ancient Greek philosophers Aristippus of Cyrene and Epicurus believed that the pursuit of pleasure underlies well-being. Their hedonist followers, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, attempted to quantify well-being based on maximizing overall enjoyment from various pleasures: intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic. Aristotle believed that virtue and fulfillment are key components of well-being/happiness, as the accumulation of experience over time and the realization of abilities and potential. This viewpoint continues to inspire researchers in psychology, sociology, and management today, in their work on entrepreneurship and motivation.
Materials and Methods
In the humanities, two main types of well-being are considered: subjective well-being and psychological well-being. Subjective well-being is used interchangeably with the concept of "life satisfaction" in many studies, but the concepts are not essentially identical. Subjective well-being focuses on maximizing pleasure and optimizing personal interests (Ryan et al., 2001) and is assessed within the context of individual experience. Objective factors such as well-being and health influence a person's subjective assessment of well-being, but are not inherent or essential. In general, measures of subjective well-being should include all important aspects of life and be considered a global or general set of indicators (Diener, 1984). Life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect are considered the main components. Well-being is associated with social entrepreneurial intentions (Zhang et al., 2024), and increased subjective well-being is associated with lower levels of deviant behavior at university (McGuire, 2023). Subjective well-being, in addition to being valuable in itself, has numerous positive consequences, regulating various areas of life and compensating for dissatisfaction by potentially redirecting activity toward areas where the individual experiences satisfaction. According to R.M. Shamionov, there is a chain of psychological and social components with various areas of satisfaction that creates the conditions for subjective well-being. An individual's assessment of their level of well-being is primarily based on social comparison, correlating their activities and attitudes toward them by comparing their well-being with others, by correlating the well-being of others with their own well-being, and expresses an emotional and evaluative attitude that qualifies as a certain level of well-being.
Psychological well-being focuses on human flourishing and, as a striving for meaning in life, includes self-confidence, maintaining warm and trusting interpersonal relationships, autonomy in behavior, purpose in life, and personal growth. Psychological well-being encompasses theories of mental health and lifespan, which converge on positive psychological functioning. Psychological well-being also encompasses intrapersonal dynamics. Certainly, stress impairs work-life balance and well-being.
Subjective well-being and psychological well-being are empirically linked and can coexist. However, subjective well-being alone can manifest itself in the presence of pleasure and the fulfillment of short-term interests, without achieving self-acceptance or longer-term goals. Subjective well-being, repeated and cumulative over time, can contribute to the development of psychological well-being, and short-term pleasures are part of the path to self-actualization. Psychological well-being can also result from managing difficulties and overcoming challenges.Status refers to a person's relative position in a hierarchy. Several different criteria, such as wealth, education, and achievement, are used to assess status. Socioeconomic status typically refers to a person's actual and general position in objective, external, and comparable hierarchies. Subjective or perceived status focuses on people's opinions about their positions in socioeconomic hierarchies. These opinions partially reflect reality, but are also influenced by personal, social, cultural, and historical factors.
Social mobility emphasizes actual changes in position within real socioeconomic hierarchies. Subjective social mobility is more personal and perceived, although both categories involve upward or downward movement within socioeconomic hierarchies. When studying young people, only upward mobility is typically examined, in the context of the likelihood of upward mobility in the individual's society. In this study, upward social mobility is defined as the belief that achievable advancement to a higher political or prestigious class and/or to a better financial position is possible and desirable. In financial situations, students typically not only evaluate their own performance but also make social comparisons to form a perception of the likelihood of advancing to a better economic situation. According to appraisal theories, the higher the perceived likelihood of upward mobility, the greater the individual's perceived subjective well-being. Accordingly, with the perception of higher levels of social mobility, higher degrees of subjective well-being are achievable, with a possible reduction in the effect due to income (Zhao et al., 2024). This relationship is mediated by education-dependent future identity (the perceived desired future, which includes achieving a high level of education) (Browman et al., 2022), which is enhanced by a hopeful attitude toward future opportunities and personal development, triggering a mechanism that leads to subjective well-being and psychological well-being. To examine the relationship between social and economic mobility and subjective well-being, with mobility as a predictor, a survey (Appendix 1) was conducted among 300 university students. Variables were measured on a 1-7 Likert scale. Subjective well-being measures included life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect.
Results
The results showed that economic mobility and social mobility were highly correlated, and that economic mobility stimulates social mobility. Improving economic status typically leads to improved social status, but improving social status is also expected to lead to improved economic/academic outcomes. It was confirmed that students with stronger beliefs about upward mobility tend to have higher academic engagement and goal-orientation, which, in turn, leads to greater success.
Discussion of Results
The mediating roles of "optimism" and "responsibility" were identified. The concept of "optimism" is defined in the study according to L. Tiger as "a mood or attitude associated with the expectation of a social or material future—one that the student considers socially desirable, for his [or her] benefit, or for his [or her] enjoyment." Optimism acts as a bridge, linking perceived upward economic mobility and well-being. After perceiving a better financial situation, students predictably exhibit more favorable and positive attitudes toward the future. On the one hand, optimistic people are more likely to pursue hedonistic pleasure and live a life that best suits their own interests. On the other hand, due to an optimistic attitude and a perceived better financial situation, optimistic people may be more interested in contributing to others or the broader community to foster a better future. Socioeconomic mobility enhances people's optimism. Subjective socioeconomic mobility significantly influences well-being through optimism, suggesting that optimism's role as a predictor of subjective well-being and psychological well-being can be identified.
Responsibility is essential for well-being and describes the feeling of "being responsible for one's decisions and actions, being trustworthy and dependable to others, and having the authority to act on matters within one's control." At the social or societal level, university and government support can enable people to make more responsible decisions that lead to greater well-being. Responsibility also plays a significant role in increasing social mobility and well-being. When students perceive themselves as ascending to higher social levels, they tend to feel more meaningful to society and more responsible for their behavior and the associated impact on others. Because of this perceived increase in control, such students are more likely to serve others/society and explore potential and opportunities. Responsibility mediates the relationship between perceived upward social mobility and subjective well-being, as well as psychological well-being.
Conclusion
For students, perceived upward mobility improves well-being, with responsibility and optimism playing a significant mediating role. Optimism may be particularly relevant in explaining the relationship between upward mobility and subjective well-being, while responsibility is important in explaining psychological well-being. Thus, psychological well-being plays a significant role in addressing the challenges of patriotic education for children and students. Taking into account the characteristics outlined in this article will help shape the process of developing personal values and professionally significant qualities in the younger generation, harmoniously and within an environment of psychological safety.