The article presents results of a study of psychological characteristics of Tuvan first-year students living in conditions of climatic and geographic social tensions of the Republic of Tuva. The peculiarity of the Republic of Tuva is not only harsh climate, national way of life and lifestyle, but also low socio-economic standards of living. The study was conducted in the framework of the monitoring in the University Health Centre with the computer program «Methodology for integrated assessment of physical and mental health of students in higher and secondary professional educational institutions» by R.I. Aisman. The Tuvan students were characterized by optimal parameters of anxiety, stress resistance, aggression and hostility, neurotization and psychopathology corresponding to the middle-age norms. They had quite a high level of motivation to succeed. Among the parameters of social and psychological adaptation, orientation to dysaptation prevailed. The nervous system's neurodynamic indicators indicated the medium-weak type of the nervous systems of Tuvinians. There have been identified gender characteristics of the girls, they had higher anxiety, hostility and motivation to succeed. The young men were more emotionally stable, calm, optimistic, because there were no persons with the high neurotization level among them. The girls were characterized by lower psychological adaptation, however, they had a higher level of physiological adaptation in comparison with the young men.

Peculiarities There was performed the study of the mental status of first-year students enrolled in the Tuvan state University. There were detected levels of reactive and personal anxiety, adaptive capacity, the level of social and psychological adaptation and aggression. Adaptation potential in students is within limits of the satisfactory one, there was no detected person with poor adaptive capacity and failure of adaptation, that indicates to the genetically fixed ability of the students’ body to adapt to living conditions. In a state of psychological adjustment there was revealed the more higher level of anxiety in Tuvan students, which is caused by the poor living conditions. More satisfactory condition is typical for the social and psychological adaptation, since in all students values of test scales are within normal limits.There were shown gender differences in adaptation and psychological status of students. Boys have more lower indices of indirect and verbal aggression, anger, resentment, suspicion, guilt. Girls are characterized by higher hostility, at that it even exceeds standard values. In the group of students with a high personal anxiety no differences in adaptive capacities were found, and in students with moderate personal anxiety there were significantly more boys with stress adaptation than girls. Analysis of the socio-psychological adaptation of first-year students shows that in all students values of the test scales are normal, but in young men, indices are higher that indicates to a more successful socialization in the environment of the university. Correlation analysis of indices of aggressiveness and socio-psychological adaptation revealed weak negative relationships between index of aggressiveness with maladaptiveness, non-acceptance of others, emotional comfort in boys. In girls “aggressiveness” positively correlates with the such indices as acceptance of others and adaptation. Factor analysis in young men revealed the first factor, labeled as maladjustment because it included indirect aggression, maladaptiveness, self-rejection, emotional discomfort and external control. In girls first factor combines indices: adaptability, self-acceptance, adaptation (integral), self-acceptance, emotional comfort, the desire to dominate and this factor was labeled as adaptation.