The image of adulthood is a special neoplasm of a teenager's self-consciousness, an integral affective-cognitive complex that includes a teenager's ideas about his own adulthood and a dynamic component through which ideas are realized in actions. The image of adulthood is formed on the basis of the formed image of the «ideal adult», which is laid down before adolescence and serves as a guideline for the development of a teenager, which indicates the high importance of the content of the image of an adult and the image of adulthood for the development of a teenager and his later life — the image of adulthood is of great importance in setting and achieving goals, developing personal qualities and properties, the degree of activity and initiative in terms of social interaction, in terms of achieving success in various fields [2, 3].
Consequently, without ideas about what it really means to be an adult, without ideas about the appearance, behavior, relationships and activities of adults, adolescents cannot have a sense of adulthood, a tendency to develop their own adulthood. Teenagers are coming out of the «children's world», but they are still not ready to move into the «adult world». However, they want to be adults, since the feeling of adulthood is a central neoplasm already in the younger adolescence. Yesterday's children have an interest and desire to know the adult world: first they observe and analyze, compare adults and their qualities, choose the most attractive personalities, a kind of ideal or standard.
V. I. Zorina in her research made it possible to understand that «the formed image of the «ideal adult» serves as a guideline for the direction of development of a teenager, while she believes that this orientation can be designated as a prerequisite for the manifestation of volitional efforts to achieve the intended goals, the realization of their desires. Then, after forming the image of an «ideal adult», teenagers copy the elements of appearance, behavior, communication and activity, and after analyzing themselves, their behavior, appearance, character, and based on what they found, they model and build their parameters of «adulthood»» [1, p. 91].
According to L. A. Regush, the psychological problem «is a certain contradiction between the formed or actual level of development of certain mental functions, processes, properties, and those challenges that life makes, requiring the emergence of new mental qualities. Mental development in adolescence is characterized by the aggravation of contradictions between already formed mental properties and the requirements of human life to master new forms and types of vital activity, which can act as sources of problems» [5, p. 7].
The presence of large psychological problems can interfere with the normal formation of the image of adulthood in adolescents, at the same time, an incorrectly formed image of adulthood can serve as a source of certain experiences of adolescents. Such experiences can provoke the emergence of various psychological problems of adolescents.
In a study aimed at studying the psychological problems of adolescents with different indicators of adulthood, admitting 60 adolescents aged 13 to 14 years old, studying at the Municipal Educational Institution «Severny General Education School No. 1» urban — type settlement (UTS) Severny, Belgorod district, Belgorod region.
The following diagnostic techniques were used: «Psychological problems of adolescents» (L. A. Regush, E. V. Alekseeva, A. V. Orlova, Yu. S. Pezhemskaya), the questionnaire «My image of adulthood» (O. V. Kurysheva), an essay on the topic: «When, in what situations do I feel like an adult» (O. V. Kurysheva).
We have suggested that there is a connection between the psychological problems experienced by adolescents and the characteristics of the image of adulthood, namely:
1) the more psychological problems such as problems related to school and problems related to communication with peers are characteristic of adolescents, the more often teenagers will show adulthood in school life
2) the more psychological problems such as problems associated with the parental home are characteristic of adolescents, the more often teenagers will show adulthood in domestic situations.
To identify the presence and nature of links between indicators of psychological problems and indicators of the image of adulthood in adolescents, we applied a nonparametric statistical method for independent samples — Spearman's r-criterion.
22 positive (direct) correlations were found.
So, when realizing adulthood in such types of situations as «School life» (r = 0.324 at p≤0.05), «Imitation» (r = 0.398 at p≤0.01), «Communication with peers» (r = 0.291 at p≤0.05), «Domestic situations2 (r = 0.336 at p≤0.01), there will be a high severity of the indicator of psychological problems «Problems associated with the parental home». This may be due to the fact.
When realizing adulthood in situations such as «Independent action» (r = 0.265 at p≤0.05), «School life» (r = 0.256 at p≤0.05), «Imitation» (r = 0.298 at p≤0.05), there will be a high severity of the indicator of psychological problems «Problems associated with school». This can be determined by the fact that they cannot independently decide how to act.
When realizing adulthood in such types of situations as «School life” (r = 0.271 at p≤0.05), «Communication with younger children» (r = 0.264 at p≤0.05), «Imitation» (r = 0.403 at p≤0.05) p≤0.01), «Communication with peers» (r = 0.342 at p≤0.01), «Home situations» (r = 0.319 at p≤0.05), «Other» (r = 0.272 at p≤ 0.05), there will be a high severity of the indicator of psychological problems «Problems associated with communication with peers». This can be explained by the fact that communication, especially communication with peers, at this age becomes significant for adolescents and largely determines their life, adolescents interact with each other both at school and outside it.
A direct link was found between the manifestation of adulthood through imitation and problems associated with leisure activities (r = 0.277 at p≤0.05). This can probably be explained by the fact that when choosing how to spend their free time, adolescents are guided by other people, imitating them.
When realizing adulthood in such types of situations as «Communication with adults» (r = 0.289 at p≤0.05), «School life» (r = 0.346 at p≤0.01), 2Communication with younger children» (r = 0.317 at p≤0.05), «Imitation» (r = 0.395 at p≤0.01), «Communication with peers» (r = 0.333 at p≤0.01), 2Home situations» (r = 0.367 at p≤0.01) there will be a high severity of the indicator of psychological problems «Problems associated with health». This may be explained by the fact that adolescents are afraid of accidentally contracting dangerous diseases; worried about the health of relatives, friends, and acquaintances; may feel severe physical fatigue due to workload.
Also, direct connections were found between such types of situations of manifestation of adulthood as «Imitation» (r=0.325 at p≤0.05), «Domestic situations» (r=0.265 at p≤0.05) and the average score of problem concern. This may be explained by the fact that in various home situations and when trying to show their adulthood through imitation of adults and loved ones, teenagers face great problematic experiences.
Based on all the above, we can conclude that our hypothesis is partially confirmed at a high level of statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.
References:
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