Ambition of young people - representatives of Y and Z generations

¹ Southern Federal University, B. Sadovay str., 105, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
² Don State Technical University, Gagarin square, 1, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

^* Corresponding author: knesinka@mail.ru

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of self-assessment of ambition of students - representatives of Y and Z generations. The aim of the study was to identify the similarities and differences in self-esteem of ambition and the degree of its expression among young people of different generations. A cross-sectional survey of young people's ambition was conducted in 2009 (Gen Y youth) and 2020 (Gen Z youth). The study involved 200 young people aged 18-22: 106 young people of generation Y and 94 young people of generation Z. To study ambition, the “Ambition” questionnaire (O.V. Barsukova) was used. Most of the young people of generation Y assess themselves as ambitious or rather ambitious people (70.42%), slightly more than a quarter of students (28.17%) consider themselves to be un-ambitious people or rather un-ambitious than ambitious people. The minimum number of students found it difficult to assess themselves (1.41%). Most of the young people of generation Y rate their ambition as high (45.07%), about a third of them - as moderate (30.99%), about a quarter of them - as low (23.94%). The majority of young people of generation Z (70.22%) consider themselves ambitious people or rather ambitious than un-ambitious people, about a third of them (29.79%) consider themselves un-ambitious people or rather un-ambitious than ambitious people. There were no young people who found it difficult to assess themselves. Most of the young people of generation Z rate their ambition as moderate (51.06%), just over a third of them - as high (36.17%), the minimum number - as low (12.77%). There were no significant differences in the self-esteem of ambition and in the degree of its expression among young people belonging to different generations.