Профилактика вандального поведения обучающихся в образовательной среде

Abstract

Introduction. Within the research, the concepts of “vandalism” and “vandal behavior” were considered, and the psychological characteristics of personality determining vandal actions among adolescents were identified. The authors emphasise the destructive consequences of these actions, but their motives and content may differ significantly. Special attention is paid to the problems of the spread of vandal behaviour in the youth environment (the environment of students). The results of theoretical analysis show that in modern practice there is a shortage of vandalism prevention programmes, which is considered as the issue of the research. Methods. The research involved 354 schoolchildren from 8 federal subjects of the Russian Federation. The empirical data were collected remotely, using four standardised diagnostic techniques. The obtained data were processed using the methods of mathematical and statistical data analysis (frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, comparative analysis, regression analysis). Results. The findings revealed that acts of school vandalism indicate not only shortcomings of the educational environment itself, but can also be a signal of a number of psychological problems among particular students. Thus, preventive work in educational organisations should include prevention of vandalism and take into account typical mechanisms that influence such behaviour among adolescents, such as aggressive behavioural strategies and lack of personal goals in life. Based on the empirical data obtained, the authors identified the main directions of vandalism prevention in the educational environment, clarified and substantiated specific forms of preventive work.