Identification preferences of young people determine the trends of further development of society. In this regard, an important research task is to identify the identification preferences of young people. Identity has various forms, which together form a hierarchical structure, the governing parameters of which are national identity. National identity is a component of constructivism, the formation of which is the focus of youth policy in Russia and Tajikistan. The effectiveness of youth policy largely depends on the extent to which it reflects the hopes and opportunities of the young generation, its growth potential. The article presents models of the identity structure of student youth in Russia and Tajikistan based on the results of empirical research and monitoring of the dynamics of identification preferences. The study of the structure of youth identity and the dynamics of its changes is based on an open associative experiment and sociological surveys among students of the Russian-Tajik (Slavic) University (Dushanbe) and the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Yekaterinburg). The conducted research allowed the authors to determine the dominant components in the structure of youth identity and substantiate the significance of the formation of national identity, active civic position among young people as a direction of youth policy.