Characteristics of the urban "life fulfilment environment" and the possibility for the realization of the youth's life values

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the studying of the problem of the relations between individual personality characteristics of the youth (self-discipline, self-determination and life satisfaction) and their perception of the opportunities for the fulfilment of their fundamental life values provided by the urban environment. The factorization of the fundamental values variables was made, and the multiple correspondence analysis in order to reveal the relation between the personal characteristics and social attitudes of the individuals toward the urban environment was implemented. During the study it turned out that the relation between the personal characteristics result in two main factorial axes: first is the ``self-identity{''} axis with the poles of authenticity (compliance of the person's life with his/her desires, needs and ideas) related to the life satisfaction and motivation for the goal-achievement, and alienation, characterized by low life satisfaction and very low purposefulness. The second is the ``self-discipline{''} axis with the poles of disorganization (with which the flexibility and spontaneity are related) and organization (correlated with regulation and rigidness). Second, relation between the personal characteristics and individual estimations of the potential realization of the fundamental life is complex: the ``authenticity{''} qualities always correlated with the positive estimations of the potential realization of the fundamental life values, and the ``organization{''} is related with the positive estimation of the realization of the `outer' values while `disorganization' and spontaneity correspond with the positive estimation of the realization of the `inner', intra-oriented values. The qualities of the ``alienation{''} correspond with the moderate or negative estimations of the realization of the fundamental values in the urban environment, and the qualities of the `disorganized alienation' characterized mostly by moderate or negative estimations of the realization of the `domination' values, while `organized alienation' is characterized by negative estimations of realization of all fundamental values, especially `personal' goal-achievement ones. Finally, the distribution of the characteristics of the identification with the city (M. Lally scale) in the categorical space shows that the qualities of the `spontaneous authenticity' related to the strong emotional affection towards the city; the `organized authenticity' related to the common past experienced by the person, the outer value of the city and the aims, associated with the city. The qualities of the `organized alienation' correspond with the low emotional affection and the outer value of the city, while the qualities of the `disorganized alienation' correspond with the low emotional affection and the nearly absent association between the aims of the individual and his/her perception of the city. In sum, it should be noted that the personal characteristics of the self-discipline seem to be strongly dependent on if the life values and estimations of their potential realization in the urban environment are conditioned by the inner or outer source. At the same time, characteristics of the person's self-identity condition his/her positive or negative/indifferent estimation of the urban environment and opportunities for the life fulfilment.