(2016) Science and education, 7, 20-25. Odessa.

Andrii Tatianchykov,
PhD (Candidate of Psychological Sciences), senior lecturer,
Department of Logopedics and Special Psychology,
Donbass State Pedagogical University,
19, G. Batiuk Str., Sloviansk,Ukraine

DYNAMIC FACTORS OF ADAPTATION OF ADOLESCENTS MOVING TO SECONDARY SCHOOL

One of the most critical stages of schooling is moving from primary to lower secondary school. The difficulties accompanying this period are mainly caused by the new forms and content of education, new schoolteachers teaching different subjects, various methods of subject material presentation and new demands to schoolchildren, age changes in the child’s development – the beginning of adolescence. Therefore, the problem of schoolchildren’s adaptation to new conditions of the educational process is topical and serious and, as a consequence, the need for providing specially organized work aimed at the correction and development of factors influencing this process arises. The aim of the article is to study the structure of the adaptation process of adolescents moving to secondary school; the impact of the identified factors on the success of their adaptation. The following methods were used in the study: theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, generalization, abstraction, classification, induction, deduction); empirical methods (questionnaires, tests); methods of mathematical and statistical data (correlation and factor analysis). Basing on literature review it has been found that the adjustment to the secondary school by pupils is considered as an adaptation to the new conditions of learning and qualitatively new level of communication, the development of certain stereotypes, which help them to overcome difficulties and successfully master the educational activity. The carried out empirical research has shown that one of the factors influencing the schoolchildren’ successful adaptation in this period is the level of the maturity of their basic mental operations. Some significant correlations between the indices of adaptation and the level of school-children’s mental operations development have been found. The following factors determine the adaptation structure of fourth and fifth graders: intellectual, emotional, social factors, and self-esteem. The intellectual factor, which includes all mental operations and properties of thinking, is much more important than the others, and its significance is especially enhanced in the fifth grade. The emotional factor involves anxiety and emotional attitude towards school. In the fifth form, the significance of this factor is greatly reduced. The social factor and the factor of “self-esteem” are less important both for fourth and fifth graders.

psychological adaptation, secondary school, adaptation process, factors of adaptation, adaptation indicators, adolescence.

1. Grigorieva, M. V. (2005). Sravnitelnyy analiz mehanizmov i faktorov shkolnoy adaptatsii v raznykh usloviyakh obucheniya [Comparative analysis of mechanisms and factors of adaptation in different education conditions]. Candidate’s thesis. Saratov [in Russian].
2. Dmitrieva, S. V. (2005). Osobennosti psikhologicheskoy adaptatsii uchashhihsya k usloviyam obucheniya pri perehode v srednyuyu shkolu [Peculiarities of psychological adaptation of students to the educational conditions]. Candidate’s thesis. Moscow [in Russian].
3. Litvinenko, N. V. (2009). Adaptatsiya shkolnikov v kriticheskie periody razvitiya k obrazovatelnoy srede [Adaptation of school students in critical periods of the development to the educational environment]. Extended abstract of candidate’s thesis. Samara [in Russian].
4. Opanasiuk, H. (2009). Perebih adaptatsii v ditei 1, 5 klasiv [The course of adaptation of children of 1-5 forms]. Psykholoh – The psychologist, 3-4, 10-11 [in Ukrainian].
5. Tatianchykov, A. O. (2013). Formuvannia rozumovykh operatsii yak zasib adaptatsii pidlitkiv do navchannia v osnovnii shkoli [Forming mental operations as a means for adolescents’ adaptation to studying at general school]. Candidate’sthesis. Sloviansk: DDPU [in Ukrainian].
6. Chebykin, O. Ya., Ignatenko, I. V. (2000). Osobennosti razvitiya emotsionalnoy ustoychivosti u detey raznogo vozrasta [Peculiarities of emotional stability development of children of different age]. Nauka і osvіta – Science and education, (18-20 pp) [in Russian].
7. Chebykin A. Ya., Shevchuk N. N. (2001). Issledovanie sformirovannosti samoregulyatsii u podrostkov [Studying adolescents’ self-regulation maturity]. Nauka і osvіta – Science and education, 6, 75-76 [in Russian].