Introduction

In the current period, the humanitarian sciences face an important problem to strengthen the psychological sustainability and well-being of young generation in postmodern transformations of traditional values and challenges to social institutions (^{Landry, 2000}; ^{Greenfield, 2000}; ^{Bauman, 2001}; ^{Shutenko, 2018}). Under these conditions, scientists note the need to strengthen the socializing mission of higher school as a sphere for the full-fledged development of a viable youth (^{Ilinskiy, 2010}; ^{Li, 2017}). The prosperity of university practice is largely depending on the activation of personal resources and mechanisms of psychological growth of students related with revealing their internal potential (^{Ryan & Deci, 2001}; Shutenko et al., 2018).

Psychological health is closely linked with self-fulfillment, especially at a young age (^{Maslow, 1950}; ^{Ryan & Frederick, 1997}). Actually both of these phenomena attribute the same process of fruitful existence of a person in certain socio-cultural circumstances (^{Assagioli, 1961}; ^{Bradburn, 1969}). The meaning of self-fulfillment for a young individual is the ability to be a capable subject, be active, creative, take responsibility, make decision, engage goal-setting, etc. (^{Gewirth, 1998}; ^{Tarabaeva et al., 2016}). Therefore, the content and technology of the educational process at the university should be aimed at stimulating students' self-fulfillment in the logic of supporting their psychological activity, well-being, and stress resistance for overcoming crisis and destabilizing factors (^{Peters, 1961}; ^{Shutenko, 2014}).

Recognizing the importance of self-fulfillment for psychological well-being (as well as mental health) requires overcoming mercantile standards and values of a mass consumption culture that imposes to young people on the image of a thoughtless user of life, a wasteful consumer and insatiable human-object deprived of the ability to creative thinking and active labor practice (^{Baudrillard, 1998}; ^{Featherstone, 2007}).

In the humanitarian dimension, the problem of self-fulfillment (as a component of psychological well-being) has been addressed in the framework of influential scientific traditions and approaches: phenomenological tradition (E. Husserl, M. Heidegger, A. Schütz, R.D. Lang, M. Merleau-Ponty, etc.); existential tradition (L. Binswanger, С. Cofer, М.Appley, R. May, J. Bugental, K. Jaspers, M. Buber, V. Frankl, A. Längle, etc.); hermeneutical tradition (F. Schleiermacher, H.-G. Gadamer, V. Dilthey, E. Betty, P. Ricker et al.); personological approach (E. Spranger, V. Shtern, H.A. Murray, S. Maddi, H. Marcuse, E. Mounier, P. Teilhard de Chardin et al.); interactionist approach (Ch. Cooley, G.H. Mead, W.I. Thomas, H. Becker, H. Blumer, J.M. Charon, E Goffman, J.P. Hewitt etc.); constructivist approach (J. Piaget, G. Kelly, J. Bruner, E. Glasersfeld, T. Luckmann, P.L. Berger, G. Bateson, P. Watzlawick, etc.).

Promotion of research in the field of self-fulfillment was largely reinforced by the ideas of M. Weber's understanding sociology, humanistic psychology (E. Fromm, G.W. Allport, K. Goldstein, A. Angyal, A. Maslow, G. Murphy, C. Rogers etc.); the theory of autopoiesis (H.R. Maturana, F. Varela); eudaimonic approach (K. Ryff, E.L. Deci, R.M. Ryan etc.); narrative approach (M.White, D. Epston, D.P. McAdams, J.J. Bauer, J.L. Pals etc.); the ecological theory of human development of U. Bronfenbrenner; the field theory by K. Lewin and others.

It is important to emphasize that each of the noted traditions and approaches considered self-fulfillment as a significant ontological condition and attribute of a fully functioning person (^{Rogers, 1963}).

The process of self-fulfillment is certainly inherent to becoming of viable youth (^{Gewirth, 1998}; ^{Leontyev, 2002}). Meanwhile, this process requires some support, i.e. a system of measures and concerns from society to create suitable conditions for full growth of personality (^{Rogers, 1961}). At all times, educational institutions have played this role. In this regard, for contemporary student youth higher school should become a school of productive self-fulfillment that can help each student build his own training trajectory, his own professional, cultural, civilian image, project his future (^{Sitarov et al., 2008}).

Conceptual framework

This study was carried out under the influence of heuristic findings in the domain of health psychology obtained in the trend of positive psychology, and primarily the eudaimonic approach (^{Ryan & Deci, 2001}). In contrast to the hedonistic direction in psychology, this approach is based on the starting position that a human gains happiness not by pleasure, but through revealing and realization of his potential in surrounding society (Ryan & Deci, 2001). In the framework of the eudaimonic direction, it is especially worth noting the theory of psychological well-being by K. ^{Ryff (Ryff & Singer, 1998}) as well as the theory of self-determination of E.L. Deci and R.M. Ryan (^{Ryan & Deci, 2000}; ^{Deci & Ryan, 2008}). The efforts made in the trend of positive psychology are focused on identifying personal resources that enable people to achieve a better life (^{Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000}). Our study develops this direction, supposing that self-fulfillment arising from eudaimonic lifestyles be such a resource, especially for psychological health of personality.

In addition, in our opinion, a narrative approach can be used to adequately study psychological well-being (^{White & Epston, 1990}). This approach examines the phenomenon of well-being through human identity in the context of a socially constructed life story (^{McAdams, 2008}; Bauer et al., 2006). The notion of positive identity as a narrative that unites biographical events of a person's life and vital goals and values into a single whole allows overcoming the separation into hedonistic (subjectivist) and eudemonic (objectivist) understanding of well-being. Moreover, the method of narrative analysis makes it possible to recognize the emotional colorations of individual experiences related to thematic and structural constructions of life stories that can be considered as indirect indicators of well-being and happiness.

We performed our research based on the idea that youth psychological well-being as a correlate of self-fulfillment (^{Miquelon & Vallerand, 2006}) is an indicator of productive socialization (^{Young, 1952}) and the result of the implementation of the internal intention for self-actualization (^{Maslow, 1987}). Being the powerful life motivator in the student years, this intention psychologically inspires and guides a young person, mobilizes his abilities and internal potential in order to manifest himself, to gain a valuable life experience and knowledge, to prove himself in studies, scientific work, society, business, sports, culture and so on (^{Stipek, 1993}).

When we consider the phenomenon and the process of students' self-fulfillment in university environment, it is necessary to clearly realize that we are dealing with the most reliable indicator of successful personal and professional development (^{Shutenko et al., 2019a}), and at the same time with a humanitarian criterion of the productivity and effectiveness of university educational process as a whole (^{Tomlinson, 1993}). In designing of our research, we assumed that the process of students' self-fulfillment is determined by such educational practice construction that promotes the full personal and socio-cultural development of student as a capable and competent subject (^{Gasset, 1999}).

In previous studies of the psychological characteristics of students in Russian universities, we interpreted self-fulfillment as the process of self-improvement of their unique experience of a saturated and responsible life (^{Kupavtsev, 2013}); and as a process of self-awareness and realization of the personal potential and meaningful attitude towards themselves and world at present and within current life circumstances (Kupavtsev, 2015).

Methodology and method

The subject of our study was the higher school educational environment as a space for ensuring psychological well-being and self-fulfillment of student youth.

The study focused on the problem of defining personal significant conditions for students' self-fulfillment as humanitarian criteria for providing their psychological well-being in university educational process.

Our study was aimed at testing hypothesis that the process of students' self-fulfillment in university education (apart from individual abilities and effective learning methods) depends on the construction of a socio-cultural learning environment, in particular, from the recognition of the values of social support and participation in the development of students, which strengthen the atmosphere of psychological well-being. Among other things, such an environment should teach students how to manage their professional and life path and form the necessary skills and resources for self-development (^{Kupavtsev, 2015}).

Scientific approach. The possibility of testing this hypothesis is provided by using a sociocultural approach to uncovering the problem of students' self-fulfillment in university education (^{Shutenko E. & Shutenko A., 2015}). This approach considers the academic sphere and educational technologies as components of the cultural environment for identifying and implementation the essential forces of students who absorb historical patterns of socio-cultural experience of self-development (^{Shutenko et al., 2017}). Representing the synthesis of skills, knowledge, abilities, talents, etc. driven by strivings, interests, meanings and expectations, these essential forces are developed when the person acquires the experience of culture through the mechanisms of desobjectivation and objectivation of this experience in social practice (^{Leontyev, 2002}).

The goal and stages of the research. In our opinion, the urgent task of studying the issue of students' psychological well-being and health is to tie the potential of modern educational paradigms and technologies with the process of self-fulfillment in university training. In this regard, the goal of the research was to determine the subjectively significant manifestations of students' self-fulfillment that reflect personal expressions and modalities of their psychological well-being.

To solve this goal, we have performed a research work which was carried out in three consecutive stages.

The first stage was focused to identifying the subjectively presented conditions and markers for self-fulfillment of students in the domain of university education.

The second stage was to generalize the data obtained on the signs of students’ self-fulfillment and defined dominants of their psychological well-being in the learning process..

The third stage was dedicated to a special experimental survey of students, revealing the degree of their self-fulfillment and indicating the level of their psychological well-being in training.

Specificity and participants of the research. Through conducting of the pilot questioning, directed interviewing, focus groups the most subjective-significant conditions of students' self-fulfillment emerged.

The study was carried out in 2018-2019 academic year; at different stages it covered 403 students of higher educational institutions from Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Murmansk Arctic State University, St. Petersburg State University and Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Method of thesaurus analysis. During the interviewing and survey students' different inferences, opinions and estimations to following questions were clarified:

«What does the self-fulfillment in the university studies mean to you?», «Are there possibilities to achieve self-fulfillment in the educational process?», «On what does students' self-fulfillment depend?», «What promotes and what blocks your self-fulfillment in the university training?», «What are the capacities and role of the university in promoting students' self-fulfillment?» etc.

Processing of students' answers to the above questions was carried out by the thesaurus analysis method. This method allowed us to determine the subjectively important topics of students' lives, as well as their understanding and interpretation of these topics by deciphering the root semantic-conceptual constructions of answers to interview questions.

In the beginning, the answers and opinions of students were subjected to a content analysis procedure. From the collected units of an array of information with valuable content, specific thematic communities were identified, generalized, systematized and grouped, which consisted of similar in the direction of thinking, contextual and semantic constructions, and also coincided in a narrative and connotative line. At the same time, we tried to ignore inconsequential, formal, logical, discursive, stylistic, grammatical and other differences and nuances in these constructions.

In the initial analysis, we identified nine semantic clumps from the general array of students' answers, reflecting various topics related to their self-fulfillment in learning. A more detailed semantic decoding and thesaurus analysis of categories of obtained content (^{Lukov Val. & Lukov Vl., 2004}) consisted in clustering them by grouping related lexical and thematic expressive constructions into more universal communities. This allowed us to associate and unite various shades of students' opinions into three key semantic clusters, which served as the basis for formulating three subjectively important conditions for students' self-fulfillment.

Results and discussions

Thesaurus clusters and semantic markers of conditions for students' self-fulfillment. The first community of answers contains statements, opinions, connotations, and inferences that reflect the direct attitude of students to learning activity, to teaching classes at the university, as well as the significance of this activity for student person development. The responses included in this group emphasized mainly the subjective significance of the learning and the high learning motivation in general. Table 1 represents the most prevalent semantic markers from students responses that were assigned to the first thesaurus cluster of their perceptions of conditions from the standpoint of readiness for self-fulfillment in university training are given in percentage terms (at the rate of 100 % detection of each marker in all respondents). The markers list is displayed in descending order: on the upper lines are those that are more often used in student answers, and the less common ones are located in the lower ranks.

The prevalence of semantic markers noted in the table indicated that for successful self-realization in learning for students, it is important to be personally immersed and involved in the educational process. We called the received spectrum of students' opinions, reflecting this circumstance of their self-fulfillment, in concept of personal participation in the learning process.

The second community of answers was formed by selecting assessments and opinions of students, which indicated the degree and completeness manifestation of their personal efforts and potential in the university educational process (intentions, individual qualities and properties, abilities, talents, etc.). Table 2 reflects the corresponding semantic markers, the meaning of which was reduced to the importance of disclosing and realizing of internal potential of students as a starting point for their self-fulfillment. These markers were selected in a separate semantic cluster in the general array of student responses.

The general sense of the connotations listed in Table 2 reflects the acmeological aspect of student self-fulfillment as striving for the heights of self-improvement, achieving a high level of personal and professional development. Thus, the markers contained in this semantic cluster showed the importance of the availability of conditions for realizing the abilities of students in university training.

The structure of the third community of responses was made up of assessments and opinions of students that emphasized the significance of warm contacts and social support in the university education. The vast majority of students are convinced that it is impossible to realize themselves as a person if the university does not have an atmosphere of trusting, friendly, productive communication, shared experience and complicity.

In the responds of students, it is noted the important role of social contacts as a nutritious soil for versatile self-knowledge and self-expression. The function of such soil is performed by the sphere of continuous communication, collective identity, social recognition and cooperation and mutual assistance in university education.

Table 3 demonstrates semantic markers of students' responses, reflecting the significance of various kinds of social support and acceptance for sustainable self-fulfillment in the university environment. The presented semantic markers were included in the third thesaurus cluster of the conditions for students' self-fulfillment in the university environment.

Thus, the subjectively significant ideas of students about their self-fulfillment, obtained by the method of analysis of the thesaurus, made it possible to highlight the relevant problems of university training in terms of personal development. First, it is the disclosure and extension of internal universal abilities of students; secondly, it is the forming of meaningful activities of students, purposeful and thoughtful actions in learning activity; thirdly, it is providing of this activity implementation in wide social ties performing the function of the social filter and catalyst of those activity.

The narrative dominants of students’ psychological well-being. As a result of the narrative monitoring (^{McAdams, 2008}) of the presented semantic markers (see Tables 1-3), we identified three leading narrative dominants of students' understanding of the conditions for their self-fulfilment as markers of their psychological well-being in learning:

Figure 1 clearly shows the content of the dominants of psychological well-being in university, which was formulated on the basis of the processing the opinions of students who participated in the survey.

The first dominant was interpreted as "ego-inclusion in the educational process", it defines attitudes toward learning at the university as a main occupation in the current period of life. This dominant stems from the interests and satisfaction of students with the learning process, assumes confidence in the correctness of the chosen specialty and a strong desire to master the profession and be successful in future work, as well as a deep psychological involvement in learning process. The high personal immersion of students into the training process is also related to their desire to be similar to teachers and representatives of the chosen profession, with the desire to master the qualifications, and express and prove themselves in the learning, scientific and extracurricular fields (^{Shutenko et al., 2019b}). As follows from the narrative descriptions of students, the first dominant comprises the activity aspect of self-fulfilment, reflects interest in training, the depth of immersion in the educational process, and the personal value of the learning activity itself.

The second dominant was deciphered as "comprehensive disclosure of personal abilities”, since it pointed to the importance of development of students' personal potential, their capacyties for self-expression and self-knowledge in learning, the realization of inclinations and talents. For successful students' self-fulfillment, first of all, it is necessary to purposefully reveal internal forces and resources, to recognize themselves as skillful and capable subjects, it is required the incentives to generate students' efforts in learning and research, for their awareness of the evident usefulness of university education and the prospects of better self-discovery and self-affirmation as productive people (^{Tomlinson, 1993}; ^{Doroshenko et al., 2016}).

This dominant reflects the personal aspect of students' self-fulfillment, represents a central and key factor in their professional and motivational development, as its content embodies the internal resources of self-development in the profession.

The third dominant of self-fulfillment was named as "acceptance in the university community", it implied the presence of care and recognition of the student; availability of the university in the solving of not only learning, but also personal problems of students; a sense of community and mutual understanding among students; the presence of an atmosphere of trust, support, mutual interest and benevolence; the existence of strong friendships, mutual assistance, etc. (^{Shutenko et al., 2019b}).

The social aspect of self-fulfillment was at the heart of the content of this dominant. Such aspect means the presence of a variety of social relations of students and their interactions not only in the educational sphere, but also in business, leisure, sports, cultural spheres, etc. For successful self-fulfillment, students must be drawn into a variety of social ties and groups of different composition and interests (^{Conley, 2005}).

Thus, if universities will take into account the above dominants as conditions for building an educational environment, this can significantly expand the motivational resource and attractiveness of learning activities among students, as well as support their self-esteem and psychological well-being.

Experimental implementation. Using the narrative dominants formulated above as subjective parameters for the psychological well-being of students, we compiled and tested a questionnaire on self-fulfillment in the process of higher education.

According to the collected surveys data, students of humanitarian and technological universities learn with a steady interest and evaluate student living as the main sphere of activity of the current life period. Students believe in the correct choice of their main calling (related to specialty and university), so they are not burdened by a sense of meaninglessness to attend classes. As the results of calculations showed, by the parameter of ego-inclusion in the educational process, the average and higher data than the average were obtained.

As for the parameter of comprehensive disclosure of personal abilities, it turned out that a large number of students evaluate themselves as advanced and capable; and at the same time, they emphasize the benefits of academic life for self-expression. Meanwhile, for many of them, personal potential and talents are not fully realized in the learning process.

Students' assessments of the "acceptance in the university community" parameter showed that most of them feel help from the university as well as recognition of their personality in educational practice. Meanwhile, they admit that their activities associated with an social social life are not sufficiently meaningful and intensive.

The summarized results of the survey allowed us to state that the process of university education provides necessary conditions and opportunities for self-fulfillment of the most of students surveyed in our study.

Gender differences. It is worth noting that, with regard to the gender aspect, the array of students participating in the study was represented by almost equal halves. The survey involved 204 women and 199 men. The results revealed that for young men the process of self-fulfillment is not so problematic. They are less prone to disappointment and frustration in the course of studies. Research results on girls showed that they incline to have more emotional immersion in the training process, they are more involved in classes and university activities. At the same time, both sexes demonstrate similar positive assessments of acceptance in the university community.

Professional differences. As the results of the survey showed, students of the technological university are more accurate for their academic assignments and extra-curricular duties, which they consider to be inalienable elements of professional growth. As for students of humanitarian specialties, they are more actively participated in the learning process and are more enthusiastic in corporate activities of the university.

Summary data. We ranked the data and, as a result, divided students into three groups with different degrees of self-fulfillment in training:

Figure 2 shows diagrams of the proportional distribution of students for selected groups.

It should be emphasized that the first group was the smallest, which indicates that, on the whole, there is a positive tendency toward self-fulfillment of students in the course of their academic studies. In general, students of a high self-fulfillment express a greater belief that they have made the right decision in choosing a university and can realize their potential to achieve significant advantages. They learning with evident interest and suppose that the studies at the university is the most useful and valuable activity, that cannot be seen as a formal commitment or just as a meeting place with friends. Students with high self-fulfillment are more actively participate in the training process, they believe in learning as the most important activity that brings their dreams closer, arouses a surge of inspiration and internal improvement. In university classes, they recognize an inexhaustible resource for a diverse and deep expression of themselves as a personality.

Conclusions

In the presented study of students' self-fulfillment, we based on the idea that the educational process should provide a person with possible conditions for the development of internal essential forces, creative and intellectual capacities. The results of the study made it possible to verify that the process of students' self-fulfillment in in higher education means, on the one hand, a certain mainstream of becoming their as the future specialists, as a successful persons, who are able to develop and self-determine. And, on the other hand, this process can be considered as an internal indicator of the productivity of university training and a humanitarian criterion of students psychological well-being in the higher school education.

The present study was developed through the use of the thesaurus analysis method that centered on the discovery of the semantic constructs of students’ self-fulfillment and well-being in the educational process. This method includes more advanced sense handling of students’ opinions, answers and estimations about the self-fulfillment at the university. The procedure of the method consisted in the semantic clustering of responses by opening in them some universal combination of close linked lexical and thematically expressive structures. The semantic markers of self-fulfillment obtained using this method were organized into three thesaurus modalities - the cluster of readiness for self-fulfillment, the cluster of measures and actions for self-fulfillment, and also the cluster of activators of self-fulfillment in university training.

The results of the study gave reason to state that there are certain subjective-significant circumstances for self-fulfillment of students and their psychological well-being in the university environment. Firstly, it is ego-inclusion in the educational process, which emerges in students' interest to the university education, a desire to master the chosen specialty, satisfaction by learning, immersion into the training course, positive identification with teachers and specialists in the studied qualification, intention for versatile self-development in university environment. Secondly, this is a comprehensive disclosure of personal abilities, which means the development the inner potential of students, their progressive self-knowledge in education sphere and in later life, the deployment of their capacities and talents, targeting students to future successes, professional achievements, multifaceted self-expression in training, support for their efforts and beginnings in learning, and so on. Thirdly, it is a factor of acceptance in the university community, which presupposes a warm social atmosphere of mutual encouragement and help among students, the presence of friendly relationships, a sense of trust and solidarity, and strong companionship.