A study of first-year students’ adaptation difficulties as the basis to promote their personal development in university education

• Main Authors: Aleksandr A. Orlov, Svetlana V. Pazukhina, Aleksey V. Yakushin, Tat’yana M. Ponomareva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University 2018-03-01
• Series: Psychology in Russia: State of Art
• Subjects: adaptation; personal development; adaptational difficulties
• Online Access: http://psychologyinrussia.com/volumes/pdf/2018_1/psych_1_2018-6_Orlov.pdf

Background. The relevance of the paper is determined by the study of types, structure of adaptive difficulties and their impact on the student’s personal development in the process of professionalization in the university. Objective. To examine the psychological characteristics of difficulties that arise in the process of students’ adaptation to university instruction. Design. The authors divide the difficulty in adaptation into four categories: motivational, communicational, cognitive, and regulatory. For each category, the authors offer pedagogical technologies that promote the personal development of students on the basis of their prevailing difficulties. Results. Motivational difficulties are related to poor cognitive motivation, poor motivation to master a profession. Communication difficulties are attributed by the authors to poor communication skills. Cognitive difficulties are defined by insufficient general learning skills and a poor capacity for reflection and self-esteem. The source of regulatory difficulties is a lack of self-organization skills and poor self-control. Conclusion. Correlation analysis confirmed that there are significant connections between, on the one hand, students’ adaptability to the educational process and to their study group, and on the other, the investigated parameters that show their motivational, communicative, cognitive, and regulatory difficulties. Using cluster analysis of the empirical data, the authors identified four main student subgroups with different graphic profiles reflecting their personal difficulties in adaptation to university education; their psychological characteristics are given. Analysis of these difficulties has allowed the authors to offer an optimal psychological and educational strategy for the interactions of each of the subgroups, to optimize their personal development in the educational process.