Key Factors of Socio-Psychological Adaptation and Maladaptive States in First-Year Students from Reunited Regions: Research Results

Introduction. For first-year students, the stage of socio-psychological adaptation to the new sociocultural environment begins upon admission to the university. It is accompanied by an increase in learning activity, the formation of positive motivation, and the development of active social activities. In the reunited regions of the Russian Federation (in particular, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions), these adaptation processes occur against the background of the integration of the entire pedagogical system into the all-Russian educational space.

Objective. Determine the key factors of socio-psychological adaptation of first-year students of the pedagogical university of reunited regions.

Materials and Methods. To solve the research problems, factor analysis was used as the main method of mathematical statistics, which allowed us to solve the following problems: 1) assessment of individual psychological constructs (resilience, self-efficacy, academic motivation, life-meaning and value orientations, self-regulation, some personal characteristics) in first-year students who participated in the study; 2) identification of factors in each of the groups at different stages (stating and control); 3) analysis of the identified factors in accordance with the following criteria: 4) comparative analysis of factors in different groups. Within the framework of the study, two psychodiagnostic stages were carried out – ascertaining and control. Respondents were diagnosed using the following psychodiagnostic methods: SMOL, S. Muddy’s Resilience test, self-efficacy scale, SSPM-2020, D. A. Leontiev’s Personal Life position questionnaire, and Sh. Schwartz, Academic Motivation Questionnaire (SHAM), LSE methodology.

Results. The study involved 330 first-year students (experimental group n = 137, control group n = 193) from 5 pedagogical universities, including the Z reunited regions. 5 factors in each group are identified separately at each stage. In all cases, three factors remained unchanged: “Symptoms of maladaptation”, “social desirability and external control”, and “proactive self-regulation”.

Discussion. In the experimental group, after the implementation of this program, motivation indicators were included in the factor associated with resource availability, but this did not occur in the control group. In both groups, at the control stage, a new factor called ‘Vital activity’ was formed. The results obtained confirm and complement the research conducted in the subject field under study.

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