This article examines the issue of updating self-regulation mechanisms among young people, that are developing in the context of conflicts between normative and legal criteria and established social practices that influence the forms of young people's integration into contemporary Russian society. One of the important tasks for young people is mastering the normative and legal regulation of public life, as represented by existing legislation. As they accumulate their own social experience, young people encounter specific instances of lawbreaking, that often leads to disintegration and triggers a mechanism of self-regulation of their lives, including practices that violate legal solidarity. In this case, overcoming the contradiction between institutional normative and legal regulation and self-regulation of the lives of Russian youth becomes a serious social challenge. To find solutions to this problem, the authors turned to a study of the subjective factors influencing the normative and legal self-regulation of the everyday lives of young people. The empirical basis of the study was the results of a youth survey conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences of the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 40 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Based on the responses received to questions related to young people's attitudes toward current legislation and the influence of reference individuals on this attitude, respondents were classified into four groups: "law-oriented," i.e., those who unconditionally agree with institutional normative and legal regulation; "conditionally law-abiding" — those oriented toward compliance with the law by government bodies; "morally oriented," those who choose the law when the principle of justice is upheld; and "doubting" — those undecided for one reason or another. Regarding the "attitude toward the law" factor, differences among young people by gender and education proved statistically significant. Thus, the first group included more women, and the third — men. Among the "law-oriented" group, more young people received higher education and the level of professional qualifications corresponding to their specialty. Women are more likely to listen to the opinions of reference others rather than rely on their own. As education levels increase, dependence on the opinions of others decreases, while the importance of one's own opinion increases. With age, the range of reference others' choices changes, and the degree of criticism toward their views increases. The findings can be used to study other factors in the self-regulation of Russian youth.

youth, Russian youth, legal consciousness, social integration, self-regulation of life, law, legislation

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