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Background. Modern developmental psychology increasingly faces the need to integrate psychological techniques and socio-cultural analysis, especially in the context of the transformation of family structures and educational practices. In this context, rethinking classical diagnostic techniques, such as L.A. Venger’s “Polyanka” method, in new social conditions is of particular importance.

Objective. To show the continuity of scientific ideas of L.S. Vygotsky and his school (A.V. Zaporozhets, D.B. Elkonin, L.A. Venger) in modern interdisciplinary research. To rethink L.A. Venger’s “Polyanka” method not only as a diagnostic tool for visual-imaginative thinking, but also as a means of analyzing the “social situation of development” of a preschooler. To identify the influence of family structure (complete/incomplete) and parental educational strategies on the cognitive development of children, in particular, on the success of completing tasks using the “Polyanka” method.

Sample. 623 older preschool children. Additionally, 941 respondents (fathers and mothers) of these children were interviewed using a special parental questionnaire.

Methods. The following research approaches were used to achieve the objective: analysis of the results of diagnostics of children’s visual-imaginative thinking using Venger’s “Polyanka” method; sociological survey of parents using a specially designed questionnaire; qualitative analysis of the obtained data with the identification of significant correlations.

Results. The study found that boys from single-parent families have significantly lower rates of visual-imaginative thinking (21.9 points) according to Venger’s “Polyanka” method compared to boys from complete families (31.4 points), while such a dependence was not found in girls. Divorced mothers are more likely to use strategies that require their sons to follow strict rules in normatively defined situations, in contrast to fathers in complete families who orient their children towards behavior in uncertain conditions. It was also found that the father’s higher education has a positive effect on the results of girls (32.2 points), and for boys, the best results are associated with the mother’s secondary education (27.8 points). The lowest results are in children whose parents do not use encouragement (25.1 points), and the highest are in those who are not punished (31.7 points).

Conclusions. The study confirmed the importance of the scientific legacy of L.A. Venger for modern developmental psychology. A significant influence of family factors on the development of visual-imaginative thinking of preschoolers has been revealed. Differences in the educational strategies of parents in complete and incomplete families were determined. The “Polyanka” method has proven its effectiveness and social validity in modern conditions, and can be effectively used not only for diagnosing cognitive processes, but also as a tool for analyzing the social situation of development, especially in the context of the dynamics of family development.

Relevance. This article is devoted to the problem of comparative analysis of preschoolers’ drawings on the theme “My family”, brought up in a full or incomplete family. This topic is extremely relevant not only because of the increase in divorces in Russia and the related difficulties of raising and developing young children, but also from the point of view of the data collection method. Typically, surveys of parents and other caring adults are used in such studies, while the “voice of a child” remains unaccounted for. The purpose of this work is to explore the possibilities of using children’s drawings to diagnose the peculiarity of the social situation of development in a modern family and the emotional well–being of a child in the family.

Research methodology and progress. The projective technique “Family Drawing” as modified by the authors was used in the work. The study involved 44 children from 4 years 9 months to 7 years, average age 5 years 10 months; 18 boys and 26 girls (41% and 59%).

The result of the study made it possible to confirm the invariance of the significance of various parameters of the children’s drawing on the theme “My family” over the past 25 years. Three key bipolar factors were identified for evaluating children’s family drawings: “Structured relationships in the family – Adult dominance”, “Inclusion in the family structure – Detachment from the family” and “Loneliness – Positive emotional connection with the father”.

Conclusions. These factors make it possible to record the peculiarities of the emotional well-being of modern boys and girls raised in full and incomplete families. Firstly, the girls’ drawings clearly show positive emotional well-being, identification with the mother and orientation towards traditional gender-role relationships in the family, while the boys’ drawings are distinguished by the dominance of the parental position of adults and the child’s identification with the family as a special social group. Secondly, the emotional well-being of children from single-parent families is clearly worse than that of children from full families, and boys from single-parent families find themselves in the most difficult social situation of development.