youth

The relevance of the research is due to the public demand for the development of youth leadership programs. Additionally, the leaders themselves express the need to take into account the ideas of the youth about their personal characteristics in order to develop effectively. The objective of the study is to identify characteristics that are signifi cant for a modern youth leader as seen by students themselves depending on their gender and age.

It is shown that the problem of definition of hierarchy of valuable orientations has universal character in various cultures. The applied aspect of a studied problem can be realized in diagnostic and in developing work of the social psychologist.

The article outlines the main provisions of an integrated model of selfdetermination. Social activity is an important component as we'll as an indicator of social self-determination. The empirical study was carried out on a sample of youth  (N= 100 people, 18-30 years old) using the author's program for comprehensive studying the phenomenon of self determination, developed by A. L. Zhuravlev and A. B. Kupreychenko. It was found that social activity of modern youth is primarily focused on the satisfaction of their needs and their families.

The urgency of the study is related to the insufficient state of investigations of the value-related and meaningful conditioning of the forms of social activity of an individual. Its goal is to identify the axiological factors that determine the features of the manifestation of the forms of social activity of youth, whose vital activity is carried out in cities of different types (regional centers and a small towns).