Dr. Sci. (Psychology), Professor, Academician of RAE, Head of The Center for Socio-Cultural Problems of Modern Education, The Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russian Federation
Background. Contemporary Russian society is experiencing significant changes in family structure: divorce rates are rising, the proportion of single-parent families is increasing, and perceptions of marriage and parenthood are transforming. Under these conditions, parents’ attitudes — their values, outlook on the future, and perception of threats — directly influence the development of preschool children and the stability of the family as a social institution. Research into these characteristics, particularly among divorced mothers, is essential for developing family support measures and improving the quality of preschool education.
Objectives. To identify the features of the influence of socio-demographic and socio-stratification factors on various components of the “life position” of parents of preschool children.
Sample. A total of 42 865 parents of preschool children aged 2 to 7 participated in an anonymous questionnaire survey using a specially developed author’s questionnaire. For the purpose of the main hypothesis, subsamples of fathers (1 313 respondents), married mothers (34 199), and officially divorced mothers (2 535) were specifically identified.
Methods. Survey data were processed using the SPSS 21 and StatSoft Statistica 7.0 statistical software packages. All differences in respondents’ responses discussed in the article are statistically significant at a p≤0.05 level. To study the interrelations of the components of «life position», the method of factor analysis was used (the method of extracting Principal Components with Varimaks axes rotation with Kaiser normalization).
Results. Four substantive factors were identified that determine the characteristics of the «life position» of parents of preschool-aged children: F1 «doubt in professional success — parenting (focus on the child)»; F2 «personal success — marriage»; F3 «focus on physical well-being — life pessimism» and F4 «Value of social life». The results showed that the life position of a divorced mother is significantly distorted: compared to the traditional maternal position, both parental and marital orientations are altered.
Conclusions. The data obtained show fundamentally different attitudes of fathers and mothers towards the importance of implementing the parental function in raising a preschool child. The breakdown of a family («divorce») in the presence of a preschool-age child causes the mother to develop a negative attitude towards marriage as a traditional value.
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.
The transition from preschool to school is an important step in the socialization of the child. It is characterized by a change in his position in the system of public relations. Mastering of the new social position is associated with changes in value orientations of the child (first of all the formation of moral orientation should be listed). Child development can be considered as a process of active mastery of the practical ways and means of execution of cognitive activities that have social origins.
Therefore, learning at school is not just an activity that is aimed on knowledge acquisition, but is perceived as own work responsibility of the child that marks change in his/her lifestyle.
Our sociological research showed interesting results concerning parents’ attitudes and beliefs about preschool establishment and school. It was shown that in the present time age of transition from preschool to school is not strictly defined. Most parents consider age of 6-7 years appropriate for school entrance and only small number of parents would give their child to school at 5 years.
When choosing preschool establishment parents base on one main criteria – to provide comfort maintenance of their child. When choosing school parents are paying more attention to content of the curriculum.
The rapid development of technology leads to the fact that the computer will play a special role not only in adult life, but also in the life of a child. This raises the problem of scientific understanding of the extent and significance of the increasing impact of computer information space on the socialization of preschoolers.
This article is based on sociological survey of 1936 parents whose children attend kindergartens in Moscow. More than half of parents confirmed their child’s interaction with the computer. Thus by the time they start school more than 70% of children actively use PC. Boys are more active than girls and are more experienced PC users. As the child grows the role of a computer in the structure of leisure significantly increases. By preschool age the intensity of computer use significantly increases (every third child uses a computer up to six hours daily). At this a third of them prefer to interact with a computer without the help of their parents. An important feature is also the fact that almost half of preschoolers use a computer for games, but not for learning or artistic development. Interaction with the computer is the part of male subculture: father turns out to be the translator of the experience of interaction with the computer to a child.
This paper describes the contents and working techniques of the author’s Amares Naturkindergarten in Germany. The originality of this kindergarten lies in the absence of an educational program, in the participation of children in various serious activities and in the specific organization of the educational environment.
The characteristics of the body space environment have been presented, where, unlike the national tradition, the maintenance of order is not considered as a special value since the independent activity of children is not quiet compatible with the order and invariance of the environment. The priority of a safety for children, generally accepted for the kindergartens, a barrier against possible risks, have been replaced by a toughening up, a transfer to the child’s own concern about their safety.
The examples of a child activities, including the creation of feasible products (a museum, a garden, a piece of chalk, etc.), experimentation, household economic activities, and of course play have been described. The education and child-rearing have been included in various types of a child activities. There are no traditional studies in this kindergarten. The work of teachers has been focused not at the transfer of knowledge but at fostering the independence and creative orientation of a child. With the support of teachers, preschoolers practically do everything themselves, which contributes to the development of the most important personal qualities. The role of parents is particularly emphasized as they observe the children’s enthusiasm, actively help the kindergarten staff and defend their right to such a teaching practice which is ingenious for Germany.
In conclusion, the authors note that the methods of education used in Amares Naturkindergarten fully comply with the requirements of the Russian Federal State Standard for Early Childhood Education as they have been focused on the development of a child personality, the education of independence, initiative and responsibility.