Modes of Essential Self-Regulation as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

The article presents the results of an empirical study of modes of essential self-regulation as predictors of psychological well-being. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to clarify the psychological mechanisms that ensure internal consistency of personality, adaptation, autonomy, constructive interpersonal interaction and maintenance of psychological well-being. Within the author’s concept, essential self-regulation is considered as a system of emotional, communicative and behavioral modes that facilitate or hinder internal integration and psychological functioning of personality. The aim of the study was to identify the relationships between modes of essential self-regulation and indicators of psychological well-being, as well as to determine self-regulatory predictors of the integral indicator of psychological well-being. The theoretical basis of the study included humanistic concepts of personality development, concepts of psychological well-being and the author’s concept of essential self-regulation. The study employed the Questionnaire for Diagnosing Essential Self-Regulation, the Questionnaire for Diagnosing the Emotional Component of Essential Self-Regulation and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scales. Statistical data processing included Kendall’s τ-b correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The results demonstrated that optimal modes of essential self-regulation were positively associated with indicators of psychological well-being, including autonomy, positive relations, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life and self-acceptance. Dialogical and internally consistent modes of self-regulation were associated with higher levels of psychological well-being, whereas affective, ambivalent, apathetic and disintegrated modes demonstrated predominantly negative relationships with its indicators. Regression analysis revealed that modes of essential self-regulation explained a statistically significant proportion of the variance in the integral indicator of psychological well-being. Positive predictors of psychological well-being included internal consistency of experience, constructive communicative patterns and adaptive behavioral ways of activity realization, whereas emotional overstrain, internal contradictions, apathy and disorganization of self-regulation were associated with lower levels of psychological well-being. The obtained results make it possible to consider psychological well-being not only as a consequence of external adaptation or life satisfaction, but also as a state associated with the quality of emotional, communicative and behavioral self-regulation. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying the obtained results in psychodiagnostics, psychological counseling, psychotherapy and psychological support programs.