Abstract:

New requirements and new tasks that the school sets for the child at each new stage of learning, sometimes exceed its capabilities, changing the state of the emotional sphere and causing a non-specific stress reaction of the body. In this regard, the first significant sign of a student's adaptation disorder to the educational environment is the child's emotional distress at school (E.V. Novikova, A.M. Prikhozhan, A.A. Severny, S.Yu. Tarasova, V.I. Voytko, and others).

The most common form of emotional distress among students is school anxiety (E.I. Lebedeva, A.V. Miklyaeva, E.V. Novikova, P.V. Rumyantseva, and others), which manifests itself in feelings of worry, increased anxiety in academic situations, in the classroom, and the expectation of negative treatment and evaluation from teachers and peers (L.I. Bochantseva, A.M. Prikhozhan, A.N. Zavyalova). Intense anxiety, which disrupts academic activities, is considered a systemic feature of school maladjustment (M.R. Bityanova, Yu.G. Krivoshapkina, V.V. Nakhodkin, S.A. Shumakova, L.V. Yurkina).

The purpose of our study was to identify the characteristics and causes of school anxiety in 6-7-year-old, 10-11-year-old, and 15-16-year-old students entering first grade and transitioning to fifth and tenth grades. To achieve this goal, we used such methods as observation, interviewing, and special techniques: L. Phillips Anxiety Test (for students aged 6-7) and A.M. Prikhozhan Anxiety Scale (for students aged 11-12 and 15-16), R. Cattell Personality Traits Questionnaire.

Based on the results of our study, we concluded that the largest number of students with school anxiety was recorded in fifth grade. Increased, high and very high levels of school anxiety allow for the identification of students with latent and open nature of the course of difficult adaptation. In students with latent nature of the course of difficult adaptation, anxiety, as an indicator of stress in situations of school and interpersonal interaction, manifests itself in spite of the well-being of the situation in significant areas of life. These students perform well and even excellently in their studies, are active in their academic activities, have a positive emotional attitude towards their teachers, they do not experience difficulties in adapting on a behavioral level. It has been established that students with hidden difficulties in adapting have a significant correlation between their anxiety and personality traits such as shyness and hypothymia.

In our study, we identified the following features of students' difficult adaptation: anxiety in situations of school interaction, emotional instability combined with poorly developed self-control (in students aged 6-7); anxiety in situations of interaction with peers, emotional excitability and increased nervous tension combined with unstable self-control (in students aged 11-12); anxiety in situations of interpersonal interaction, anxiety in assessing one's own capabilities and abilities, sensitivity to the opinions of others, and dependence on the group (in students aged 15-16). The identified features and causes of school anxiety as an indicator of students' impaired adaptation to the school environment should be taken into account when choosing the content, methods, and means of correctional and developmental work with children with difficult adaptation.

Keywords:

School anxiety, emotional distress, indicator of stress, difficulties, emotional instability, adaptation.