Abstract:

The study aim was to identify differences in manifested victimhood and victim behaviour strategies of adolescents with and without disabilities, as well as to determine the relationship between parental attitudes toward adolescents with disabilities with manifestations of victim behaviour.

The following psychological methods were used in the study: O.O. Andronnikova’s method of “Predisposition to victim behaviour”, “Adolescents about parents” (E. Schaefer’s ADOR, adapted by L.I. Vasserman, I.A. Gorkova, E.E. Romitsina) and the authors’ questionnaire to determine situational factors.

Differences in the propensity for victim behaviour were found between groups of adolescents with and without disabilities. Adolescents with disabilities more often appeared in unpleasant or life-threatening situations and were more willing, than adolescents without disabilities, to use instinctive or uncritical strategies of victim behaviour.

The study examined the characteristics of parental attitudes for each group of adolescents. Adolescents with disabilities felt much less positive interest, acceptance and understanding from their mothers than adolescents without disabilities. Also, adolescents with disabilities felt much less positive interest from their fathers than those without disabilities. Adolescents with disabilities experienced directivity, hostility, autonomy and inconsistency from their parents. This was because their parents had internal tension due to anxiety about the life and health of their children, parents' perception of a child with disabilities had some peculiarities, the parents experiences internal difficulty of accepting their children’s peculiarities, differences from others and also because of some personal traits.

The performed correlation analysis showed links between victim behaviour of adolescents with disabilities and their mothers’ aggression, excessive strictness and desire to dominate. As for fathers, adolescents were victimized because their fathers had the desire to conform to a common notion on a father’s role, expressed in harshness and excessive criticism toward sons, excessive demands and harshness toward daughters in a combination with emotional coldness, rejection and unpredictability.

A correctional program has been developed, basing on the obtained empirical data, to work with highly victimized adolescents with disabilities and their parents. The program aim is to show children and parents what behavioural strategies are maladaptive, to help them acquire skills and ways of interaction, reducing use of maladaptive strategies of victim behaviour by adolescents and changing parents’ attitudes towards their children.

The performed testing of the proposed correctional program has confirmed its effectiveness. Significant differences between the average indicators of victimhood, self-destructive, instinktive and uncritical strategies of victim behaviour were revealed. At the level of the trend, changes in the indicators of aggressive and passive strategies of victim behaviour were recorded.

Keywords:

Victimhood, victim behaviour, maladaptive strategies of victim behaviour, child-parent relationship, parental attitude.