Social and psychological characteristics of student youth's attitudes toward abortion

Introduction. The article presents a theoretical analysis and the results of an empirical study examining the psychological characteristics of student attitudes toward abortion. The aim of this article is to identify distinctive characteristics of student attitudes toward abortion in the context of ideological attitudes and moral foundations. The object of this study is the socio-psychological characteristics of student attitudes toward abortion. The subject of the study is the relationship between ideological attitudes and moral foundations and attitudes toward abortion among students and adults.
Materials and methods. Sample 1. Students of Moscow universities (N = 95; 45 % boys, 54 % girls), Sample 2. Adults (N = 99; 51 % men, 49 % women), aged 30 to 68 years (M = 42.5; SD = 9.30). The methodological basis is the Theory of Moral Foundations and the concept of Social Beliefs. Psychodiagnostic tools: the author's questionnaire, including the 10-point abortion attitude scale, the Moral Foundations Questionnaire adapted by O. A. Sychev, and the short version of J. Duckett's method adapted by D. S. Grigoriev. Descriptive statistics, comparative and correlation analysis in SPSS-23.
Results. Young men, more than young women, and adults, more than students, support the introduction of a ban on abortions in Russia. Among student youth, support for the introduction of a ban on abortion is associated with authoritarian aggression and binding moral foundations, while its condemnation is associated with individualizing moral foundations. Common relationships between support for abortion bans in both adult and student samples include correlations with authoritarian aggression and moral foundations—loyalty and respect for authority. Unlike students, adults' support for a ban on abortion is more closely linked to components of right-wing authoritarianism, as well as belief in a competitive world and attitudes toward economic inequality and the dominance of some social groups over others.
Discussion and conclusions. The contribution of the conducted research to the understanding of attitudes towards abortions among student youth, the prospects and limitations of the research are shown.

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