Psychological content and factors of the crisis of professional development in university students

Modern psychological science considers the entire process of formation and development of a person's personality through the prism of crises and stable periods in his life. The same periods are observed in the life of each student of a higher educational institution. One of the crisis periods in the learning process is called "median crisis" or crisis of professional development and is typical for students in 2-3 years of study. The present article is devoted to the consideration of this period of student life.
A review of research on early adulthood crises reflects the discontinuity and crisis nature of this age. In this regard, some authors speak of the "crisis of meeting adulthood", the "crisis of breaking away from roots", the "crisis of adolescence 17-21 years", the "period of entering adulthood". The system periodization of development by V.A. Ganzen and L.A. Golovey shows that at the age of 19-21 there is a boundary between the child and adult stages of development. The main phase of biological development is completed, there are peaks of all kinds of sensitivity, as well as psychophysiological, mental and intellectual functions, the formation of higher emotions and self-consciousness is completed. Significant changes occur socially - leaving the parental home, the emergence of his or her own family, the mastering of professional roles. Thus, changes affect all levels of life activity and are both qualitative and quantitative in nature - the discontinuity of development at this stage is obvious. According to C. Jung, the crisis point of this period is the collision of the person with the requirements of real life; illusions contrasting with reality lead to the disintegration of childhood faith and optimism. The psychological essence of the "crisis of entering adulthood" is connected with the transition to a new value and meaning community of adults, which implies separation, individualization, self-realization, realization and acceptance of responsibility - parameters that distinguish the adult from the child and adolescent. The beginning of the period of early adulthood coincides with the beginning of vocational training, with a change in a young person's status - he or she becomes a student. The crises that arise at the stage of higher education in the context of age development can be considered as part of the general adaptation process of entering adulthood. In the context of age development these crises are connected both with the beginning of professionalization and with the formation of own way of life, development of self-regulation skills and life planning that allows to make the transition to adulthood less painfully. Analysis of the literature on student crises allows us to distinguish three crisis stages: adaptation stage, professional identity crisis of third-year students, and professional adaptation crisis of graduates.

The studies of the process of freshmen adaptation to the university usually identify the following main difficulties:

• Finding and defining one's own niche in the new collective;situational difficulties of interaction with members of a new group;
• The need to change the habitual mode of functioning;restructuring of emotional relations in the framework of the new status;
• acquisition of new roles.

When the freshman crisis is successfully resolved, students begin to specialize their intellect in accordance with the requirements of the profession, the formation of important professional qualities, the development of professional orientation, the formation of abilities to self-organize their own learning activities and life in general take place.
The crisis of the third year is mainly associated by many authors with difficulties in the formation of professional identity. By the middle of their studies many students return to the question of the correctness of their choice of university, specialization, and profession; there is often a cognitive conflict associated with the mismatch between the university entrant's ideas and the more realistic vision of the profession acquired in the process of studies. Successful resolution of the third year crisis is characterized by an increase in the degree of responsible attitude towards professional training, formation of the orientation towards personal and professional self-development. The crisis of professional adaptation is associated with anxiety arising in connection with entering the adult world, with the first attempts in the profession and in life, with the beginning of active self-realization and the formation of functional independence. Here there is a change in satisfaction with the future profession due to a change in the perception of the profession and a change in needs. If the previous crises have not been constructively resolved during higher education, the "five-year student crisis" will be more severe, aggravated by unformed professional identity and alienation from the profession. The analysis of the problem allows to allocate areas of the basic conflicts of early adulthood in which the psychological content of crises of the considered period is reflected - it is professional self-realization, separation from parental family and the beginning of independent life, formation of close relationships. The resolution of such conflicts allows young people to successfully enter the community of adults. The analysis showed that the most relevant experiences are:

• difficulties in the distribution of time and energy between different spheres of life (study, communication, rest, work, etc.);
• the situation of the conflict of two equally important needs, goals;feeling of intense fatigue and lack of energy for active activity;
• experience of uncertainty and unpredictability of the future. 

This set of experiences reflects the high saturation of students' lives, the importance of its various spheres, the related problem of distribution of energy and time, as well as the situation of internal conflict generated by the need to choose priority areas of development. Third-year students' experiences already show traits of the "fifth-year" crisis: the experience of uncertainty and unpredictability of the future and their own competence. The results of descriptive statistics suggested that there are groups of students with different intensity of crisis experiences.
The study of significant differences in personal characteristics allowed us to determine the personal factors that determine the occurrence and intensity of professional development crisis in students, namely: self-esteem and self-acceptance, creativity and openness to experience, competence in time, coping "positive reevaluation". Factors of professional choice and learning are also of great importance, which also determine the severity of the crisis of professional development of students.
These include:

• deliberate and serious choice of profession at the stage of professional self-determination crisis;
• the interrelated factor of self-realization in the process of higher education;
• availability of a professional plan for obtaining additional education.

We hope that the given recommendations will allow you to cope successfully with all difficulties and will help you to solve any life problem constructively.