A metasystem approach to the concept of ‘life-building competence’

Abstract

This article describes the concept of life-building competence through the lens of A. V. Karpov’s metasystem approach and presents findings from a study of life-building competence among high school students, structured according to the stages of system-based research. From the metasystem perspective, the concepts of life-building and life-creation are distinguished as types of life activity corresponding to different age stages of personality development. The study demonstrates the differences between life-building competence and related concepts such as life competence, existential competence, and psychological competence. From the structural perspective, the article identifies the components of life-building competence in high school students and describes the key features of these components for this age group. These components are cognitive, value-semantic, emotional-volitional, operational, reflexive, and proactive. From the functional perspective, the article examines how regulatory systems of life (A. V. Karpov) and value-semantic regulation (A. Zh. Salikhova). From the genetic perspective, the study describes stable relationships among the components of life-building competence of high school students and the connections between elements within competence development levels. Specific features of life-building competence at different levels of its development are interpreted in relation to the concept of ‘being-in-the-world’ by L. Biswanger, the concept of fundamental existential motivations by A. Längle, and S. V. Krivtsova’s approach to age periodization of development as a change in fundamental existential motivations. Finally, from the integrative perspective, the study describes the identified properties that manifest themselves in the interaction of the components of life-building competence as a system. Tendencies of high school students’ life-building identified through factor analysis are presented. Overall, the study presents life-building competence as a complex, hierarchically structured, multi-level formation that is simultaneously an independent system and a part of the broader system of life and life activity.