Psychological Characteristics of the “New Generation”: Homogeneity vs Heterogeneity

Researchers of the “new generation” (born in 2000-2017), also called “Z”, “Net Generation”, “iGen”, demonstrate the manifestation of similar features in different countries: an obsession with smartphones, the predominance of online contacts, dependence on parents, a tendency to depression, social liberality. However, numerous Russian and international studies mainly compare representatives of different generations, and less attention is paid to the problem of uniformity of psychological characteristics within one generation. The aim of the present empirical study was to find uniformity/heterogeneity in the psychological characteristics of representatives of the “new” Russian generation ( N = 434, Russians, 228 - girls, 206 - boys,) in two groups: university students (128 girls, 120 boys aged 19-20 years) and high school students (100 girls, 86 boys aged 16-17 years). To determine the characteristics of representatives of the generation, we used the questionnaire by Twenge; The Brief Measure of Big-Five Personality Traits (TIPI-RU), The Questionnaire for Measuring Values through Fears (by Pischik), The Questionnaire for Measuring Beliefs in Conspiracies (by Pischik, & Mutalimova), The Social Axioms Questionnaire (by Bond & Leung), questionnaire “Motivation for Help” (by Nartova-Bochaver). As a result, it was found that in both groups of the “new generation”, the most pronounced personality traits were shown: agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness; and belief in a conspiracy: political, secret organizations, globalism. At the same time, in the group of high school students the openness to experience, awareness of values, belief in globalism are more expressed. In the group of university students there is a high value for the Others, but the belief in a secret organizations and the conscious commitment of catastrophization are prevailing. Thus, in both groups of representatives of the “new generation”, most of the studied psychological characteristics showed similarity of values, but it is impossible to speak about their complete uniformity, which is confirmed by the differences in factor structures. The practical significance of the study lies in the application of the obtained data in preventive, advisory, educational activities in working with youth.