Mechanism of socio-psychological adaptation of students to the educational environment of a Russian university

Abstract

Introduction. The relevance of the research is due to the need to improve the process of psychological support for foreign students of foreign countries (African countries, Afghanistan) for long-term training (5 years) in the educational organization of the Russian Interior Ministry. Violation of the process of psychological adaptation of foreign students to the realities of life in the new language environment can lead to frustration, emotional lability, pronounced fatigue, anxiety, emergence of intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts, as well as problems with academic performance and motivation for learning. The aim of the study was to reveal the features of psychological adaptation of foreign students to the study in the educational organization of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Materials and Methods. The empirical study involved 87 students enrolled in an educational institution of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, including 45 first-year foreign students (African police officers) aged 23-30 years old and 42 first-year investigative students aged 18-22 years old. The research was carried out with the help of questionnaires: "Assessment of the state of adaptation of personality" (OSADA), "Motivation of learning in University" (T.I. Ilyina), personal coping strategy "SACS" (S. Hobfall) as well as an anonymous questionnaire of studying motivation of learning in educational institution of the Russian MIA. Mathematical processing of the results included methods of descriptive, comparative and correlation analysis using statistical package SPSS Statistics ver. 23.0. Results of the study. The study revealed significant differences between social adaptability indicators of foreign students and Russian-speaking full-time first-year cadets, according to which the characteristic feature of foreign students is underestimation of their own actions, abilities and deeds, as expressed in the following indicators: self-satisfaction (t = 2,07; p ≤ 0,05), dissatisfaction with the situation of learning activities (t = 2,27; p ≤ 0,05), general dissatisfaction with activities (t = 2,40; p ≤ 0,05). As a result of the study of motivation of foreign students two groups of motives were identified, which reflect the focus on the satisfaction of cognitive needs (80% of respondents) and passive behavior in the form of submission to external circumstances, cautious actions (20% of respondents). As a consequence, one of the significant coping strategies for this group is the avoidance strategy. The received results of the research can be used in the organization of psychological and pedagogical support of training process of foreign students in order to provide preventive adaptability.