Based on rich historical and psychological material, the content of the phenomenon of personal self-affirmation is revealed. Substrate, attributive, structural, functional and genetic types of analysis of the problem make it possible to construct the author’s systemic-genetic concept of a person’s affirmation of the value of his own self. Based on the material of a longitudinal study of adolescents, the main theoretical hypothesis is tested that self-affirmation of the individual is a basic personal construct that naturally and systematically changes in the process of growing up. A teenager’s solution to such tasks as the formation of gender identity, acceptance of gender roles and restructuring of relationships with parents determines the subject and means of his self-affirmation. The conclusion about the general patterns of personality self-affirmation is made based on a comparison of data obtained during adolescence with the characteristics of growing up during adolescence and early adulthood. The problem of compensatory abilities of the individual under various conditions of deprivation is discussed. The book is intended for specialists in the field of personality psychology and developmental psychology. 2nd edition, revised and expanded