Characteristics of school well-being and anxiety in adolescents with disabilities

Abstract

Introduction. The study of the problem of school well-being and anxiety of adolescents with and without disabilities is of fundamental importance for the psychological support of the process of academic adaptation.Aim. The present research aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the characteristics of school well-being and school anxiety as the main indicators of academic adaptation of young adolescent schoolchildren with disabilities.Methodology and research methods. The authors used a questionnaire aimed at identifying the main demographic indicators; the Phillips test aimed at assessing the main indicators of school anxiety: general anxiety, social stress, frustration of success, fear of self-expression, fear of testing knowledge, fear of not meeting expectations, low resistance to stress, problems in relationships with teachers; original scales for assessing indicators of school well-being, including the areas of relationships with classmates and teachers, self-assessment of educational activities, educational motivation, self-regulation of emotional states. The use of the subject approach in the study allowed the authors to identify the subject (emotional-regulatory) factors of school well-being and to determine the ways of psychological support for the academic adaptation of adolescents with disabilities. The study involved 120 primary young adolescent schoolchildren (46.7% girls, 53.3% boys) enrolled in general education schools and in schools that offer adaptive learning programmes.Results. The authors found out that well-being indicators, which characterise interpersonal relationships, satisfaction with learning, and motivation for achievements, unpleasant physical sensations, are higher in adolescents with disabilities. The ability to be insistive and to have a differentiated attitude to lessons is an external negative motivation for learning in relatively healthy adolescents. Higher indicators of school anxiety of relatively healthy students reflect increased psychological tension in the conditions of general education schools and there is the need for special organisational and content changes in schools to create a real inclusive environment. The confirmatory model of school well-being indicators reflects three important aspects of it: “Self-organisation based on reflection”, “Ability to emotional self-regulation” and “Positive school motivation”.Practical significance of the current research lies in the possibility of using its results to optimise the process of academic adaptation of adolescents and to specify the principles of inclusive education in accordance with the specifics of adolescents’ school well-being and school anxiety.