Productive Life Activity, Spiritual Abilities and Subjective Well-Being: Research on Russian University Students

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Introduction The relevance of the research is determined by the importance of studying issues related to the productive life of students in various fields and the spiritual and moral aspect of their personality, which may be key factors for their well-being. A number of authors, noting the correlation between subjective well-being and higher labor productivity, emphasize the need to conduct more in-depth and comprehensive research in this area and identify specific factors affecting productive activities related to well-being (Isham et al., 2019). Existing research data on the relationship between students’ subjective well-being and their productive life activity are contradictory, and there has been no comprehensive study of the correlation between students’ productive life (in its various spheres), their spiritual abilities and subjective well-being, which underlines the relevance of this work. We define productive life activity “as the achievement of success and positive results in activities (educational, professional, social, and creative) and in the main socially and personally significant everyday manifestations of a person’s life (in the family, leisure sphere, in the area of self-development)” (Ozhiganova, 2023a, p. 122). For students, academic activity is of particular and primary importance. The relationship between students’ academic performance and well-being has been reflected in several studies. Academic performance was found to be significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being and negatively correlated with depression (Bukhari, Khanam, 2017). A significant positive relationship was established between students’ well-being and academic achievements (Bazar et al., 2024). Another study also found a link between academic success and subjective well-being (in a large sample of 600 students from various faculties at a public university in Turkey (Gökalp, 2020). However, a meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between students’ academic success and well-being found this relationship to be not as clearcut as previously thought. The results suggested that low-achieving students would not necessarily experience low levels of well-being, and those academically successful would not automatically experience high levels of well-being (Bücker et al., 2018). Interesting data were obtained from a sample of Russian first-year students of various faculties. Although 71% of the respondents rated their academic and overall life success highly, 57% reported low life satisfaction, demonstrating a belowaverage level of subjective well-being. Only 15% of them were satisfied with their lives (Samohvalova et al., 2021). The results of another study of first-year students showed that the group that included the largest number of students who passed all their first-session university exams with excellent grades and the smallest number of students with remaining academic debts had an average level of psychological well-being and happiness and an increased level of personal anxiety (Tikhomirova et al., 2024). The inconsistent data on the relationship between students’ academic performance and subjective well-being prompts us to conduct new research and seek deeper explanations for the empirical findings. It turns out that various factors may be at play. Of interest are the results of the study by N.A. Lyz’, O.N. Istratova, and E.V. Golubeva (2023). These authors have found that working students, compared to non-working ones, have a higher level of subjective well-being: they “are calmer, particularly in responding to obstacles and failures, rate their well-being higher, feel more connected to other people, and have a predominantly positive mood” (Lyz’ et al., 2023, p. 89). The working students are more confident in their own abilities to effectively solve educational tasks and engage in successful social interactions, which indicates their readiness for self-education and self-development. They are also characterized by faith in the friendliness and support of their teachers and fellow students, and they are more satisfied with their daily activities. As a result, it has been found that students who combine their studies with work, despite increased workloads, demonstrate higher academic achievements and subjective well-being (Lys’ et al., 2023). Thus, it can be said that combining work and study can contribute to the productivity of students’ life activity and their subjective well-being. At the same time, a study conducted by N.A. Tsvetkova, E.A. Petrova, and D.V. Savchenko (2022) yielded different results. It was found that the ‘focus on work’ indicator was lower in the group of working students than in the group of non-working students, but the ‘focus on communication’ indicator was higher; the percentage of those occupying an activist life stance was lower, while those in ‘victim’ stance was higher; the adequacy of their perception of life was slightly lower than that of the non-working group. The percentage of altruists was also lower than in the nonworking group, but the proportion of genuine altruists was higher. The working students generally expressed more empathy than the non-working ones, as they showed greater empathy towards their parents (Tsvetkova et al., 2022). In this study, the unexpected results were due to the fact that the working students had a lower level of ‘action-oriented’ attitude and showed less adequacy in life perception than the non-working ones. They also had a higher percentage of individuals with a victim mindset and a lower proportion of those with an activist mindset. It is noteworthy that in both studies, the working students were more oriented toward social interaction and positive relationships with others, including displays of friendliness, genuine altruism, and empathy, which are related to the spiritual and moral aspects of personality. Within the framework of the situational-event approach to the study of the psychological well-being/unwell-being of students, it was shown that a state of unwell-being in students could be caused by various events and situations in life, for example, the most frequently mentioned difficulties were those related to the learning process, adaptation to learning (for first-year students), financial difficulties, and some others; emotional problems, behavioral disorders, difficulties in communication with fellow students and teachers, emerging conflicts, i.e., in general, educational, social, and personal life events could contribute to students’ unwell-being (Nartova-Bochaver et al., 2024). According to a qualitative study by R. Douwes and colleagues (2023), based on semi-structured interviews, students’ subjective well-being was associated not only with academic achievements but also with other aspects of their lives. The results ЛИЧНОСТЬ И ВЫЗОВЫ СОВРЕМЕННОСТИ 657 indicated that the students had a holistic, positive perception of well-being, linking their student life to other areas of their lives, believing all the areas to be important for their well-being as students. They emphasized that their well-being was influenced by their relationships with peers within and outside of the educational context, with mentors and teachers, family relationships, and others (Douwes et al., 2023). Thus, students’ productive life activity can be considered not only in terms of their academic success but also more broadly, as their effectiveness in interacting with others (fellow students, friends, parents, and lecturers), as well as in relation to the areas of life activities that may directly affect students outside of academic work, including social, creative or leisure activities, and, to some extent, professional activities (since many students combine their studies with work), as well as selfdevelopment. This research perspective, reflecting the holistic life activities of students, seems important and relevant not only for psychological science but also for practice, allowing us to obtain new scientific results and formulate practical recommendations. This is precisely what our study demonstrates. Furthermore, it is necessary to correlate students’ productive life activities, considered widely with their spiritual and moral manifestations, as both productivity in various life spheres and spiritual abilities can impact students’ subjective well-being. For example, the results of a study by S.V. Persiyantseva (2022) showed that students’ psychological well-being could be associated with academic success and with value orientations reflecting their spiritual and moral orientations. It was found that the students with a high level of psychological well-being were characterized by the need for personal growth, the desire to show trust and friendliness in communicating with others, caring and attention towards others, the desire to realize their potential, positive assessments of accumulated experience, etc. (Persiyantseva, 2022). The researchers believe that “The value-meaning and spiritual-moral spheres of personality can be considered as the most important resources for professional realization” (Dikaya et al., 2018, p. 142), which is also relevant for students as future professionals. Research conducted in Russia and abroad has demonstrated the ambiguity of the relationship between students’ life productivity and subjective well-being, as well as the important role of the spiritual and moral aspect of personality in their productive life and subjective well-being. This allowed us to formulate the following research questions: (1) whether students’ productive life in different fields is related to their spiritual abilities and subjective well-being; and (2) whether there is a connection between students’ spiritual abilities and the subjective well-being. Spiritual and moral manifestations of personality are related to spiritual abilities. Our proposed psychological model of spiritual abilities distinguishes three main components: (1) moral, (2) mental, and (3) transcendent (Ozhiganova, 2009, 2016, 2020). The following constituents of spiritual abilities are presented in this study: ‘spiritual orientation of person’, ‘spiritual and moral qualities’, and ‘altruism’ (the moral component); ‘wisdom’ and ‘reflexivity’ (the mental component); ‘selftranscendence’ and ‘spiritual states’ (the transcendent component). The purpose of the study is to identify the relationship between productive life activity, spiritual abilities and subjective well-being among Russian university students. The research hypotheses are: (1) students’ productive life activities are positive related to their spiritual abilities and subjective well-being; (2) students’ spiritual abilities are positive related to their subjective well-being. Methods Participants The study sample consisted of 171 persons, including 134 females (78.4%) and 37 males (21.6%), aged 17 to 23 years (M = 19.28; SD = 0.98). All the participants were university students from Moscow. Techniques The following techniques were used: · The Productivity of Life Activity Scale from the Productive Life Activity and Self-Transcendence Questionnaire (Ozhiganova, 2023a), to assess the productivity of life activities in various spheres: education, professional activity, social life, creative activity, family, self-development, and leisure; · The Spiritual Orientation of Personality Questionnaire (Ozhiganova, 2023b); the Spiritual Personality Inventory by A. Husain and M. Anas (adapted into Russian by G.V. Ozhiganova, 2019); and the Altruistic Attitudes Questionnaire by M.I. Yasin (Yasin, 2020), to study the constituents of the moral component of spiritual abilities; · The Wisdom Diagnostics Questionnaire (Mekhtikhanova, 2022); Systemic Reflection Scale (showing the productive type of reflection) from the Differential Test of Reflection (DTR) (Leontiev, Osin, 2014) to study the constituents of the mental component of spiritual abilities (‘wisdom’ and ‘reflexivity’); · The Productive Life Activity and Self-Transcendence Questionnaire (Ozhiganova, 2023a); the Metapersonal Self Scale by T. DeCicco and M. Stroink, adapted into Russian by O.R. Tuchina (2012), reflecting transcendent states: going beyond the self in а sense of unity with other people, all living beings on earth, etc. to study the constituents of the transcendent component of spiritual abilities (‘selftranscendence’ and ‘spiritual states’); · The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) by E. Diener et al. (adapted into Russian by E.N. Osin and D.A. Leontiev, 2020); the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) by S. Lubomirsky and H. Lepper (adapted into Russian by E.N. Osin and D.A. Leontiev, 2020) to assess subjective well-being. Data analysis The Kolmogorov - Smirnov one-sample test, correlation and factor analysis were used for data analysis. Mathematical data processing was carried out using the SPSS 22 software package. Results The descriptive statistics of the studied variables (means and standard deviations) are presented in Table 1. Table 1 Descriptive Statistics for the Studied Variables Variables Mean Standard deviation Spiritual Abilities Spiritual Orientation of Personality 144.74 21.278 Spiritual and Moral Qualities 103.80 13.073 Altruism 65.42 15.482 Wisdom 109.44 14.328 Reflexivity 36.69 6.137 Self-Transcendence 34.63 7.298 Spiritual States 42.96 9.497 Subjective Well-Being Satisfaction with life (SWLS) 23.19 6.664 Subjective happiness (SHS) 19.06 5.258 Productive Life Activity (PLA) PLA (total score) 36.13 6.097 PLA-1 (educational activity) 5.04 1.534 PLA-2 (professional activity) 5.94 1.559 PLA-3 (social activity) 3.56 2.126 PLA-4 (creative activity) 5.51 1.685 PLA-5 (family sphere) 5.89 1.299 PLA-6 (area of self-development) 5.53 1.492 PLA-7 (leisure sphere) 4.65 1.787 Note. SWLS = Satisfaction With Life Scale; SHS = Subjective Happiness Scale. A normal distribution analysis using the one-sample Kolmogorov - Smirnov test revealed that some variables deviate from the normal distribution, namely: ‘spiritual and moral qualities’ (р = 0.038); ‘self-transcendence’ (р = 0.033); ‘satisfaction with life’ (р = 0.004), and ‘subjective happiness’ (р = 0.000). A correlation analysis using the Spearman correlation coefficient (Table 2) revealed a significant positive relationship between the total score of productive life activity (PLA) and all the constituents of spiritual abilities considered, representing all three of their components. In turn, all the constituents of the students’ spiritual abilities (except ‘altruism’ and ‘self-transcendence’) have significant positive correlations with their subjective well-being (with ‘satisfaction with life’ and ‘subjective happiness’). A more detailed analysis of the correlations between the seven spheres of PLA (educational activity, professional activity, social activity, creative activity, family sphere, self-development area, and leisure sphere) and the constituents of each component of spiritual abilities was carried out (Table 3). Table 3 shows positive relationships of PLA and the constituents of the moral component of spiritual abilities: ‘spiritual orientation of personality’ and ‘spiritual and moral qualities’ have positive significant correlations with all spheres of PLA; and ‘altruism’ has positive significant correlations with educational activity, professional activity, social activity, and family sphere of PLA. Table 2 Spearman Correlations of the Students’ Spiritual Abilities with Productive Life Activity (Total Score) and Subjective Well-Being (N = 171) Variables Spiritual Abilities Moral Component Mental Component Transcendent Component Spiritual Orientation of Personality Spiritual and Moral Qualities Altruism Wisdom Reflexivity Self-Transcendence Spiritual States Productive Life Activity Total score 0.505 0.494 0.304 0.410 0.300 0.232 0.436 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.000 Subjective Well-Being SWLS 0.303 0.449 0.139 0.560 0.204 0.129 0.406 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.070 0.000 0.008 0.092 0.000 SHS 0.211 0.394 0.101 0.488 0.154 0.129 0.416 р-level 0.006 0.000 0.189 0.000 0.045 0.092 0.000 Note. SWLS = Satisfaction With Life Scale; SHS = Subjective Happiness Scale. Table 3 Spearman Correlations of the Students’ Productive Life Activity (Its Various Spheres) with the Components of Spiritual Abilities (N = 171) Spiritual abilities Productive Life Activity (PLA) PLA-1 PLA-2 PLA-3 PLA-4 PLA-5 PLA-6 PLA-7 Moral Component Spiritual Orientation of Personality 0.322 0.298 0.361 0.247 0.252 0.203 0.303 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.008 0.000 Spiritual and Moral Qualities 0.331 0.381 0.364 0.154 0.274 0.166 0.196 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.045 0.000 0.030 0.010 Altruism 0.180 0.207 0.360 0.141 0.185 -0.040 0.086 р-level 0.018 0.006 0.000 0.066 0.015 0.603 0.262 Mental Component Wisdom 0.332 0.285 0.232 0.126 0.252 0.203 0.275 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.100 0.001 0.008 0.000 Reflexivity 0.970 0.215 0.111 0.214 -0.017 0.397 0.270 р-level 0.205 0.005 0.149 0.005 0.822 0.000 0.000 Transcendent Component Self-Transcendence 0.043 0.137 0.178 0.168 0.190 0.057 0.105 р-level 0.574 0.074 0.020 0.028 0.013 0.463 0.170 Spiritual States 0.195 0.329 0.331 0.105 0.070 0.230 0.337 р-level 0.011 0.000 0.000 0.173 0.362 0.003 0.000 Note. PLA-1 = educational activity; PLA-2 = professional activity; PLA-3 = social activity; PLA-4 = creative activity; PLA-5 = family sphere; PLA-6 = self-development area; PLA-7 = leisure sphere. Table 3 also shows positive relationships between the different spheres of PLA and the constituents of the mental component of spiritual abilities: there are significant positive correlations between ‘wisdom’ and all the spheres of PLA (except creative); and ‘reflexivity’ significantly positively correlates with the professional, creative, leisure, and self-development spheres of PLA. Finally, Table 3 shows positive relationships between various spheres of PLA and the constituents of the transcendent component of spiritual abilities: ‘self-transcendence’ has significant positive correlations with social, creative, and family spheres of PLA; and ‘spiritual states’ have significant positive correlations with of all the spheres of PLA (exсept creative and family spheres). A factor analysis (non-rotated solution) of the students’ PLA and the constituents of spiritual abilities was carried out: KMO = 0.822; Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity χ² = 442.858; df = 28; р = 0.000, explained cumulative variance = 45.893. Only one factor was identified, combining the total score of PLA (factor loadings = 0.684) and all the considered constituents of spiritual abilities: ‘spiritual orientation of personality’ (0.854), ‘spiritual and moral qualities’ (0.735), ‘altruism’ (0.680), ‘wisdom’ (0.738), ‘reflexivity’ (0.516), ‘self-transcendence’ (0.534), and ‘spiritual states’ (0.613). Table 4 shows significant positive correlations between students’ PLA (the total score) and their subjective well-being (‘satisfaction with life’ and ‘subjective happiness’). A more detailed analysis revealed significant positive relationship between the students’ PLA in the areas of education, professional activity, social life, leisure, and self-development with ‘life satisfaction’, as well as between the students’ PLA in the areas of education, social life, leisure, and self-development with ‘subjective happiness’ (Table 4). Table 4 The Relationship of Students’ Productive Life Activity (Including the Total Score and Indicators of Its Various Spheres) with Subjective Well-Being (N = 171) Subjective Well-Being Productive Life Activity (PLA) Total score PLA-1 PLA-2 PLA-3 PLA-4 PLA-5 PLA-6 PLA-7 SWLS 0. 391 0.339 0.234 0.210 0.061 0.140 0.224 0.356 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.006 0.425 0.067 0.003 0.000 SHS 0.300 0.269 0.135 0.151 0.050 0.077 0.212 0.239 р-level 0.000 0.000 0.078 0.048 0.520 0.315 0.005 0.002 Note. SWLS = Scale of Life Satisfaction; SHS = Scale of Subjective Happiness. In the end, a factor analysis (non-rotated solution) of the students’ PLA total score and their subjective well-being indicators was carried out: KMO = 0.596; Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity χ² = 149.935; df = 3; р = 0.000, explained cumulative variance = 66.245. Only one factor was identified, including the total score of PLA (factor loadings = 0.663) and the subjective well-being indicators (‘satisfaction with life’ = 0.899; ‘subjective happiness’ = 0.860). Discussion The significant positive relationship between the total score of the students’ PLA and all the three considered components (moral, mental, transcendental) of spiritual abilities shows that the spiritual and moral aspects of personality can be important for the students’ effective functioning in society and their productivity in various fields of activity. A component analysis of the students’ spiritual abilities in relation to their productivity in various areas of life reveals the importance of ‘spiritual orientation of personality’ and ‘spiritual and moral qualities’, which demonstrate connections with all the considered life spheres. ‘Altruism’ does not correlate with the creative, leisure, and self-development spheres. The students’ altruistic attitudes appear to be fully realized in their educational, professional, social, and family spheres, expressed in the assistance provided to fellow students, colleagues (for working students), and family members. The indicators of ‘altruism’ are most evident in students’ social activities. Analyzing the relationship between mental component of spiritual abilities and the students’ productive life activity, we can note the importance of “the wisdom”, which correlated with all the areas of life under consideration, except for the creative sphere. ‘Reflexivity’ demonstrates a connection with four areas: professional, creative, leisure, and self-development. The highest correlation is found with self-development, reflecting its conscious use for personal growth. Regarding the relationship between the transcendent component of spiritual abilities and the productivity of students’ activities in various fields, we emphasize the importance of ‘self-transcendence’ as going beyond the self in serving to a cause and people through social and creative activities, as well as helping one’s family, which is motivated by altruistic aspirations. Similar results on the relationship between PLA and altruistic orientation were obtained in our earlier study on a sample of students and employees (Ozhiganova, 2021). ‘Spiritual states’ are in a significant degree related to students’ social activities (reflecting a sense of unity with others), as well as to leisure activities, which create conditions for harmonizing their psychological state and replenishing resources. A factor analysis of the students’ productive life activity and spiritual abilities has shown that they form a single factor, confirming their interconnection. The ‘spiritual orientation of personality’ constituent of the moral component exhibits the highest factor loading (0,854), and is most closely related to the latent factor defining the variables included in the identified factor. Present study has revealed the relations of the students’ PLA not only with their spiritual abilities but also with subjective well-being (life satisfaction and subjective happiness). A detailed analysis of the correlations between the students’ productivity in various spheres of life and their subjective well-being has shown significant positive relationships of such life spheres as education, professional activity, social life, leisure, and self-development with satisfaction with life. The educational, social, leisure, self-development spheres correlate with subjective happiness. This indicates that not only the students’ educational activity but also their productive life activities in various fields can be important for their subjective well-being. At the same time, it should be noted that the students have shown the strongest relationship between their subjective well-being (life satisfaction and subjective happiness) and academic activities, which is consistent with some previous studies that have found correlations between students’ academic success and their subjective well-being (Bukhari, Khanam, 2017; Gökalp, 2020). The relationship of the student’ subjective well-being (life satisfaction and subjective happiness) is also most pronounced with leisure activities, which allow them to replenish resources for productive living. It has been found that the students’ subjective well-being (life satisfaction and subjective happiness) is not associated with creative activities and family life. This is a cause for concern. A factor analysis of the students’ productive activities and their subjective well-being has revealed that these variables form a single factor, confirming their interrelationship. Present study has also found a relationship between the students’ subjective well-being and their spiritual abilities: a significant positive correlation is observed between the students’ life satisfaction and subjective happiness with all the considered constituents of spiritual abilities (with the exception of ‘altruism’ and ‘self-transcendence’). The results of our study suggest that the spiritual and moral aspects of personality are of great importance for students’ subjective well-being, particularly with respect to such components of spiritual abilities as ‘spiritual and moral qualities’, ‘wisdom’, and ‘spiritual states’ representing all of their three components. Similar results were obtained in our previous study, which revealed a relationship between students’ spiritual and moral qualities and their subjective well-being (Ozhiganova, 2022). It should be noted, however, that there is no connection between the students’ altruistic orientation and subjective well-being. This may be due to the high energy expenditure and potential resource depletion during students’ altruistic activities, which can be compensated for in their prosocial activities by incorporating other constituents of spiritual abilities (as evidenced by the strong connections between the students’ subjective well-being of students and their ‘spiritual and moral qualities’, ‘wisdom’ and ‘spiritual states’). Our findings on the relationship between students’ PLA, their spiritual abilities, and well-being are consistent with those of other studies. Students with high levels of psychological well-being have been shown to be more academically productive and achieve greater academic success: higher levels of psychological well-being are associated with higher exam scores (Persiyantseva, 2022). The author also noted that students with high levels of well-being prioritized important values as guiding principles in their lives, including inner harmony, love, loyalty, family protection, broad-mindedness, and self-determination (Persiyantseva, 2022). We consider these personality characteristics and manifestations to be associated with spiritual abilities). When values were ranked in S.V. Persiyantseva’s study, it was found that the first most important value for all the students was ‘independence’. Notably, the second most important value for the students with high levels of psychological well-being was ‘kindness’, while the second most important value for the students with low levels of psychological well-being was ‘hedonistic values’ (pleasure, enjoyment of life, and self-indulgence). This suggests that students with high levels of psychological well-being are more likely to prioritize kindness (which we consider to be an important constituent of spiritual abilities), while those with low levels of psychological well-being prioritize a non-spiritual, self-centered orientation (hedonism). The lack of spiritual orientation in students with low levels of psychological well-being is also reflected in the fact that moral values such as social justice, modesty, and self-discipline do not serve as guiding principles in their lives (Persiyantseva, 2022). 664 PERSONALITY AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES It is also worth noting the results of a study by Zh.A. Shutkina, T.V. Markelova, and G.A. Kruchinina (2023), who established a connection between students’ psychological well-being and helping behavior. We view helping others as a spiritually charged productive activity related to spiritual abilities. One explanation for the positive relationship between psychological wellbeing and spiritual abilities, found in our research, is related to the results of a study conducted by S.V. Persiyantseva and S.L. Artemenkov (2023), which has shown that a positive attitude towards others, personal growth, and a sense of purpose in life are essential for students to achieve psychological well-being. These psychological manifestations are closely linked to spiritual abilities and contribute to their academic success and productive fulfillment of life tasks. The results of our study, demonstrating the connection between the students’ PLA and their spiritual abilities, prompt consideration of existing opportunities for promoting the development of both students’ productive life activities (academic, professional, etc.) and their spiritual abilities. At the same time, it is important to note the steps already taken in this direction. A study by R.Z. Sabanchieva (2005) has shown that the development of students’ creative readiness for professional activity can be related to the skill and productivity of their teachers’ professional activity. It has been found that the determining factors contributing to teachers’ productive activity include high job satisfaction, pursuing a favorite activity, constant creativity, self-improvement, and the value of work (professional activity is considered one of the most important in society). This reflects the prevalence of spiritual abilities associated with self-development and creativity, as well as service to the cause and society, among highly productive teachers. A peculiar feature of this type is the ‘giver’ characterized by “the instinct of mastery” (according to T. Veblen, 2009). The ‘giver’ is associated with a spiritual personality, displaying spiritual abilities (Ozhiganova, 2020). Thus, it can be said that highly productive teachers (identified based on such characteristics as goals-values, motives, and personality orientation, responsibility, high creative potential, competence, abilities, and skills), by demonstrating their spiritual abilities, create conditions for the future productive professional activities of students: “The criterion for the productivity or mastery of higher education teachers is the development of the creative readiness of students - future specialists - to solve their upcoming professional tasks productively” (Sabanchieva, 2005, p. 7). Based on this study, it can be said that highly productive teachers can, by their personal example, motivate students to engage in productive life activities. Highly productive and respected teachers can not only lay a solid foundation of knowledge for students’ future professional careers but also create opportunities for the actualization and development of their spiritual abilities. This creates the conditions for the development of a spiritual life orientation in students, which, according to A.A. Grachev, is expressed in “the attitude towards a cause based on spiritual values (activity, work, study, occupation) as a means of self-development and self-improvement; in experiencing a sense of duty and responsibility towards the cause; in providing selfless assistance to others; in seeing the meaning of one’s life in one’s cause...” (Grachev, 2021, p. 490), which is fully connected to an individual’s spiritual abilities. ЛИЧНОСТЬ И ВЫЗОВЫ СОВРЕМЕННОСТИ 665 Limitations. When interpreting the results of present study on the relationships of students’ subjective well-being with PLA and spiritual abilities, one should take into account that it was conducted using the well-proven and reliable SWLS and SHS methods. These methods provide a general idea of the degree of satisfaction with life and subjective happiness. For a deeper understanding of students’ wellbeing, other or additional methods are required. A number of researchers have noted the need to develop a specialized tool for studying students’ well-being, which will reflect the specifics of this contingent (Travia et al., 2022; Khatri et al., 2024). In particular, P. Khatri et al. (2024) believe that existing methods do not allow for a holistic reflection of both the essence and the nuances of students’ subjective wellbeing in higher education context. The researchers have proposed a multidimensional scale of students’ well-being (SWB), which includes academic well-being, financial well-being, physical well-being, psychological resilience, and relationship wellbeing (Khatri et al., 2024). It is also important to note that the sample of students in our study was predominantly female, which may have influenced the results. Conclusion The results of the study have confirmed the hypotheses: (1) students’ productive life activities are positive related to their spiritual abilities and subjective well-being; (2) students’ spiritual abilities are positive related to their subjective well-being. It has been shown that the constituents of spiritual abilities such as ‘spiritual orientation of personality’, ‘spiritual and moral qualities’, ‘wisdom’, and ‘spiritual states’ demonstrate the greatest number and intensity of connections with students’ productive life activities; the constituents ‘spiritual and moral qualities’, ‘wisdom’, and ‘spiritual states’ demonstrate pronounced connections with subjective wellbeing. These constituents of spiritual abilities represent all three of their components: moral, mental, and transcendent. The constituents of the moral component of spiritual abilities ‘spiritual orientation of personality’ and ‘spiritual and moral qualities’ show a connection with all the spheres of students’ productive life activity: education, professional activity, social life, creative activity, family, leisure, and self-development. A significant positive relationship has been found between students’ subjective well-being and their productive life activity in various spheres (education, professional activity, social life, creative activity, leisure, and self-development), with the strongest correlation observed for educational and leisure activities. Our research shows the importance of considering the issues related to the moral and spiritual aspects of personality (spiritual abilities) which can be significant for students’ life activities and subjective well-being, as well as taking into account the significance of students’ productivity in various spheres of life for their well-being. The established relationship between students’ productive life activities and their spiritual abilities suggests the need to create opportunities for students to develop their spiritual abilities and cultivate the idea of fruitful productive life activities among them, reflecting the practical significance of this study. Further research is needed to examine the connections between productive life activity, spiritual abilities, and subjective well-being across other social and age categories.

About the authors

Galina V. Ozhiganova

Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: symposium2016@rambler.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6339-8640
SPIN-code: 1135-6880

Ph.D. in Psychology, Leading Researcher, Laboratory of Psychology of Abilities and Mental Resources named after V.N. Druzhinin

13 Yaroslavskaya St, Moscow, 129366, Russian Federation

References

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