Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 321 II International Scientific-Practical Conference "Psychology of Extreme Professions" (ISPCPEP 2019)

Subjective Assessment of the Quality of Life of Specialists working in the Arctic Economic Zone in Yakutia

Aida Egorova Valentina Davydova

Department of Psychology Department of Psychology North-Eastern Federal University North-Eastern Federal University Yakutsk, Yakutsk, Russia [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract The article describes the main aspects of the Purpose of the study: is to study the subjective subjective assessment of the quality of life by highly assessment of the quality of life of highly qualified qualified specialists living in the Arctic economic zone of specialists working in the Arctic zone. Yakutia, some differences were revealed in the assessments of the quality of life and factors affecting the II. METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH METHODS subjective satisfaction and psychological well-being of Quality of life is understood as an individual's people in the Western and Eastern economic zones. In assessment of the totality of the conditions of his physical, general, among representatives of the AEZ, the overall mental, social well-being and as the category, which is assessment of the quality of life corresponds to the characterizing the parameters of life potential and living average level. The subjective assessment of the quality of conditions, which includes objective (living standard of a life of specialists working in the Arctic depends on the particular person) and subjective parameters (degree of relationship with people and colleagues around them, on satisfaction of his needs and value structures). There are the nature and content of the work performed, and on demographic, social, psychological, physical, and spiritual- the degree of readiness to work in the Arctic. related parameters [1]. The category of "quality of life" in psychological research is associated with such intangible, Keywords: Arctic, quality of life, subjective subjective aspects of human life as happiness, satisfaction assessment, Yakutia. with life, subjective well-being. T.N. Savchenko and G.M. Golovina understand the subjective components of quality I. INTRODUCTION of life as the degree of satisfaction of the needs of an The Republic of (Yakutia) is the largest individual and value structures of different levels. [2] region in the Russian Federation, with the population fewer The quality of life was assessed according to the than 1 million people, accordingly, it has one of the lowest following scales: “work and professional career” (10 population density in the country. The administrative- points); "Love, family and children"; “Material and housing territorial structure is represented by 34 municipal districts, condition” (5 points); “Physical comfort, sleep, health and 2 urban districts, 48 urban settlements and 361 rural nutrition” (6 points); “Assessment of the environment, settlements. In spatial terms, the territorial structure of the climatic conditions, environmental situation” (4 points) and republic’s economy is formed by districts (uluses), united “overall satisfaction with the quality of life”. into economic zones, large territorial entities that are To study the self-assessment of the quality of life distinguished by their administrative-territorial community, of highly qualified specialists, was used a modified scale geographical proximity, similarity of climatic conditions, based on questionnaires assessing the quality of life by Z.F. stability of borders, common transport and energy Dudchenko and “Assessment of the level of satisfaction infrastructure, and a distinct specialization of the economy with the quality of life” by N.E. Vodopyanova, a based on the use of the natural and socio-economic questionnaire to identify the motivation and factors affecting conditions of the territory, the presence of common job readiness in the Arctic. economic, social and cultural ties. There are 5 economic Statistical data processing was carried out using the zones: central (CEZ), western (WEZ), eastern (EEZ), non-parametric criterion "angular Fisher transformation" southern (SEZ) and arctic (AEZ), each of which has its own and correlation analysis[3] [4]. characteristics, competitive advantages and socio-economic The object of the research is specialists working in problems. the Arctic, Central and Western zones of the republic. The The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is distinguished sample size in the Arctic was 208 people. by extreme climatic conditions, inaccessibility of Each economic zone differs significantly by the settlements, insufficient development of the energy and main socio-economic indicators and social conditions, transport system. uneven distribution of the population, income level,

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). 34 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 321 accessibility of transport and infrastructure development: propor ty, which yment. tion of ensures low population density, remoteness and transport the constant inaccessibility of AEZ and EEZ, narrow specialization reside reliable dominated by extractive industries, insufficiently developed nt communic popula ation with production WEZ and SEZ, agricultural orientation CEZ and tion. other high concentration of the population in the capital. The regions of population between economic zones is unequal in the country composition, there is an imbalance in the distribution of and labor resources, its oversupply in the WEZ and CEZ and its creates lack in EEZ and AEZ. If the representatives of the ethnic conditions for the majority - and Russians - are in a relatively developm favorable position, then the level and quality of life of ent of the representatives of indigenous peoples differs significantly. resources of the [5] [6]. macroregi on. A The features of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) economic high proportion zones of Table 1 resident Centra Southern Western Eastern Arctic populatio l (SEZ) (WEZ) (EEZ) (AEZ) n, high (CEZ) employme Proporti 50,8% 13,1% 25% 3,4% 7,7% nt and on of the (30,8 relatively populati % in low on Yakuts unemploy k) ment. Ethnic Yakuts Russians Yakuts Russian Yakuts Socio- High High Socio- Socio- composit (62,8 (78,4%), (47,1%), s (47,93%), economi concen unemploy economi economic ion %), Ukrainian Russians (49,9%), Russians c tration ment rate. c indicators Russia s (5,32%), (39,3%), Yakuts (19,4%), problem of indicato are lower ns Yakuts Ukrainian (27,7%), Indigenou s popula rs are than in (26,8 (2,9%) s Indigen s peoples tion in lower other %) (25,82%) ous (27,5%) the than in zones. peoples capital other There is (11,1%) . areas no Agricult Industr Developm Center Mining Selective except complexit ural y and ent of for of developm AEZ. y of the specializ buildin gold and diamond mineral ent of The low economy, ation g coal mining deposits minerals, proporti there is no materi deposits, and oil : gold, mining of on of transport als, energy and gas silver, diamonds, the connectio service industry. productio tungsten gold, coal, resident n between busine n, focal populati the ss, hydropo distributio on, the districts. agro- wer, as n of shortage Low industr well as industrial of populatio ial wood productio manpow n density, produc processin n, er lack of tion g and traditional (highly cities, and agricultur forms of qualifie lack of agricul al nature d labor ture. developm managem specialis resources ent ent ts) (highly (reindeer qualified herding, specialists hunting ). and Centra Southern Western Eastern Arctic fishing) l (SEZ) (WEZ) (EEZ) (AEZ) Competi Within The share High The High (CEZ) tive the of performa presence proportion Proporti 50,8% 13,1% 25% 3,4% 7,7% advantag econo industry nce of of large of the on of the (30,8 es mic in the organizati mineral resident populati % in zone, economy ons for deposits populatio on Yakuts the reaches financial : gold, n, the k) differe 85%. The results. antimon representa ntiatio key role The high y, tion of all n of in proportio silver- five socio- economic n of the polymet indigenou The ethnic composition and cultural diversity of the econo developm resident allic, s peoples. mic ent is populatio copper- region has been shaped over many centuries. The main trend indicat played by n. tungsten of inter-ethnic relations is the gradual increase in the foreign ors is the deposits. ethnic component, which affects the processes of not availabilit The expres y of the relativel intercultural assimilation and integration, and the growth of sed. railway, y low ethnocentrism among the local population. From more than The transport level of 130 ethnic groups, the predominant in quantitative terms are high accessibili unemplo

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Yakuts 48.7%, Russians second, 36.9%, Ukrainians third, “environment, climatic conditions and ecological situation”, 2.12%, Tatars - 0.84%, Buryats 0.73%, Kyrgyz 0 , 52%, the “material and housing conditions”. As it is known, the share of all indigenous peoples is 4.16%, most of them are Oimyakon ulus in the republic is considered the “cold pole”, represented in the AEZ (27.5%) and EEZ (11.1%). Yakuts the is surrounded by high mountains and since predominate in almost all zones except the SEZ (less than November the sunlight does not penetrate through clouds, 3%) and EEZ (27.74%), Russians predominate in the SEZ fog and mountain tops. (about 80%) and EEZ (49.9%), Ukrainians in the SEZ and If we consider the differences in the selected areas, EEZ (4% and 5%, respectively) [7]. between the high assessment of the quality of life among Compared to 2002, the number of Yakuts increased specialists working in the Anabarsky and Oymyakonsky by 7.9%, the - by 15.2%, the Evens - by 29.3%, the districts, in general we found them statistically significant - by 49.8%, the Yukagirs - by 16.8%, the Chukchi - (  =1,758, with р≤0.05). Differences were found in by 11.3%, and the number of Russians decreased by 9.5% э [6]. assessing the quality of family relations ( =2,129, with p≤0.05), in assessing material and housing living conditions III. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ( =2,556, with p≤0.01), in assessing overall physical Negative demographic processes, the outflow of highly qualified specialists, a shortage of engineering well-being, satisfaction with nutrition, sleep ( =1,713, professions, doctors, teachers, and a reduced quality of life with p≤0.05), as well as assessment of the environment, for the indigenous peoples of the North are characteristic for the Arctic zone of Yakutia. One of the main tasks in the climate, ecology ( =4,145, with p≤0.01). In general, field of socio-economic development of the country is to indicators on the level of “high” scores are higher for increase the attractiveness of the region for young and specialists working in the Anabarsky district. highly qualified specialists in various fields and to form a The results of the assessment of satisfaction with positive image of the northern regions. the quality of life of respondents from the Arctic regions 121 people were interviewed in the Anabarsky district indicate that satisfaction with their families and and in the village of Saskylakh, 87 in the Oymyakonsky relationships with close people is an important factor area and in the village of Ust-Nera out of the total sample of influencing the subjective satisfaction and psychological 208 people in the Arctic zone. 124 men and 84 women were well-being of people. examined. The sample of the study was divided into 4 age Satisfaction with the people around you ( rэ =0,230, groups: 20-30 years old, 31-40 years old, 41-50 years old, 51-60 years old. In general, the sample consisted of three with p ≤ 0.05), the level of labor activity ( =0,270, with p age categories from 20-50 years old, approximately 22-28% ≤ 0.01) and the overall readiness to work in the Arctic of the total sample. According to the ethnic composition, ( =0,255, with p≤0.05) have an affect on the assessment of among the subjects from Ust-Nera, Russians are dominant - 53 people, Yakuts - 15, 1 Evenk, representatives of other satisfaction with the quality of family relationships among nationalities - 16 (Bulgarian, Khakas, Koreans, Kyrgyz, specialists working in the North. [9] Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Kalmyks). In Saskyllah, among the In the Western economic zone, the lowest level of subjects, Yakuts prevail - 71 people, representatives of satisfaction among respondents of both groups is their small peoples - 26, Russians - 15. Thus, 41.3% of all material and financial condition. 45% of respondents from respondents were Yakuts, 32.7% - Russians. rural areas and 38% of respondents from Vilyuisk rate their According to the results of the study, it was found that level of satisfaction as low. City residents of WEZ are more the overall satisfaction with the quality of life among satisfied with their family life, in this respect they have no specialists working in the Anabarsky district is average (211 serious worries or anxieties, they value their partners and b.), Whereas among the specialists working in the their families. Rural residents more highly appreciate their Oymyakonsky district the assessment of the quality of life is professional activities, relations with managers, colleagues, low (199 b.). professional growth. And in general, they are more satisfied In general, the sample of highly qualified specialists with their life, work, family, living conditions, the working in the arctic regions of the Republic of Sakha opportunity to rest, than the urban residents of the WES. (Yakutia) is dominated by an average level of satisfaction For representatives of the Yakut group, engaged in with quality of life (66.5%), 28.2% have high level of industry, the possibility of professional growth and career satisfaction and 5.3% of respondents have a low level. advancement is more important (U = 389 p≤0.03 and U = 82.6% of respondents in Anabarsky Ulus, located 404 p≤0.04). Whereas for the Russian sample, more off the coast of the Laptev Sea, are satisfied with their favorable labor conditions are more important (U = 420 financial condition, living conditions, conditions of p≤0.07). Since this group is represented mainly by temporary residence, 17.3% of those tested rated their specialists from the central regions of Russia, who arrived material, financial and housing condition as unsatisfactory, with the aim of working under a contract, the demands on unstable, and pessimistic about their material prospects. working conditions seem natural. The same circumstance According to the results of assessing the quality of explains the higher desire in the search for additional life and satisfaction with its aspects, 48% of respondents sources of income in comparison with the Yakut sample (U from Ust-Nera, Oymyakonsky District, have a high level of = 414 p≤0.03). Representatives of the Russian ethnos are satisfaction with such a parameter of life as “love, family, characterized by higher activity and a subjective feeling of children”; The low level of satisfaction is caused by energy and strength (U = 416 p≤0.07).[10]

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The satisfaction of respondents from the Central [6] A. B. Bayanova, P. N. Zhondorov, A. A. Kurchatova, Information Economic Zone, including residents of Yakutsk, nearby materials on interethnic and interconfessional relations, Yakutsk, 2012, p. 220. areas and suburbs, with their quality of life corresponds to [7] S. A. Sukneva, T. S. Mostahova, A. S. Barashkova, D. V. the average level. Tumanova, and I. A. Elshina, « Demographic processes in the The results of the average ratings of respondents Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): territorial aspect,» monograph, from rural and urban areas of the CEZ have differences. Yakutsk, 2017, p. 208. 55.3% of the subjects expressed high satisfaction with their [8] The strategy of socio-economic development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for the period up to 2030 with the definition of the work and professional career, 52.1% with their physical target vision until 2050. condition and health. Among rural residents, high levels of [9] A. I. Egorova, V. Ya. Davydova, «Subjective assessment of the satisfaction were marked by such parameters as: 53.2% quality of life of the working population of the western economic family life, 52.4% environment, climatic conditions and zone of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),» Scientific Review: ecological situation, 47.7% had a job and professional Humanitarian Studies, Moscow, Pub. House «Science of Education», pp. 68-73, 2017. career. Statistically significant differences between urban [10] A. I. Egorova, V. Ya. Davydova, «Subjective assessment of the and rural residents were identified in such a parameter of quality of life of the working population of the western economic life as “love, family, children” (  =2,218 with p≤0.05). zone of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),» Society: sociology, э psychology, pedagogy. Krasnodar, «Khors" Publishing House, No. Respondents living in rural areas have a higher level of 12 pp. 119-123, 2017. satisfaction with family life than citizens.

According to the results of average values, differences in satisfaction with the quality of life were revealed between ethnic groups: Russians, Sakha. Russian respondents highly appreciate “work and professional career”, their physical condition, health, sleep and nutrition. The overall assessment of their quality of life corresponds to a high level. Sakha respondents rated all the parameters of their lives as corresponding to the average level. Among the Sakha respondents there were more unemployed and rural residents, the respondents of the Russian ethnos are mainly residents of Yakutsk, where there is a wider choice of employment opportunities, finding high-paying jobs, doing fitness and sports. IV. CONCLUSION Thus, the subjective assessment of the quality of life of specialists working in the Arctic depends on the relationship with people and colleagues around them, on the nature and content of the work performed, and on the degree of readiness to work in the Arctic. In general, among representatives of the AEZs, the overall assessment of the quality of life corresponds to the average level; they highly appreciated this parameter of their life as a family. In the WEZ specialists, who highly appreciate the quality of their life, employed in production, these are gas industry workers, entrepreneurs, and public sector workers. According to the CEZ, the overall assessment of the quality of life of the respondents corresponds to the average level, however, among representatives of the Russian ethnic group, it is higher than among representatives of the Sakha ethnic group.

REFERENCES

[1] G. M. Zarakovskii, «Quality of life of Russia’s population: psychological components,» Moscow: Pub. house «Sense», 2009, p. 319. [2] T. N. Savchenko, G. M. Golovina, «Subjective quality of life: approaches, evaluation methods, applied research,» Moscow, Institute of Psychology RAN, 2006, p. 170. [3] N. E. Vodopyanova, « Evaluation of satisfaction with quality of life,» Saint-Petersburg, 2005, pp. 148-155. [4] Practical work on Health Psychology, Saint-Petersburg, 2005, p. 351. [5] Russian Federation Census, 2010.

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