Professional Identity and Resources of Psychological Readiness for Choosing a Profession: A Review of Russian and International Research

The dynamics of changes occurring in the professional life of a person in modern society actualizes the fundamental and practical significance of the problem of professional identity in general and the psychological aspects of primary professionalization and choice of profession in particular. The purpose of the article is to conduct an analytical review of modern scientific ideas about personal psychological readiness for professional identity. The objectives are to reveal the understanding of the concept of psychological readiness in the context of issues related to students’ professional identity and to characterize modern trends in the study of resources of psychological readiness for choosing a profession. The theoretical and empirical data presented in the scientific literature indicate a wide variability and significant differences in the interpretation of the concept of psychological readiness for choosing a profession. At the same time, despite the existing terminological differences, psychological readiness for professional identity is considered by Russian and foreign authors as the most important factor in professional success, well-being and life satisfaction in general. Discussing empirical data on the key role of psychological readiness resources, the authors point to the lack of a comprehensive analysis within a single study focused on multi-level resources of readiness for choosing a profession and mastering it further on. The article shows the prospects of considering selfregulation and regulatory resources for studying the issues related to psychological readiness for personal professional identity as well as the potential for conducting comprehensive studies of personal and regulatory resources of readiness for choosing a profession, which would allow for the construction of multi-component integrative models to clarify the complex relationships between these phenomena.