Early diagnosis and prevention of emotional instability of students on psychologist`s work
Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of an early diagnosis among students with emotional imbalance, revealing aggression, anxiety, presence of the stress in students, the difficulties of adapting to a new team. Exploring the matter of the theory, we have seen how diverse approaches of scientists to this issue, which gives us a reason to conduct its research and consideration of the matter, taking into account national peculiarities of students of Baku Slavic University. Experimental work was carried out on the basis of the Faculty of Education of the University that mentioned above. As the purpose of the study was determined to the characteristics of the emotional sphere of students, corrective and preventive work diagnostics and organization within the center providing social and psychological assistance to young people, which functions at the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Baku Slavic University. After diagnosing the presence of problems relating to the adaptation of freshmen to the new social environment, our assistance to the program has been planned for the students, whose performance on the application of the technique go beyond the norm. The basis of psycho program was one of the series of training sessions in conjunction with the mini lectures and seminars, which allowed the students to explain the difficulties of the first year of study in high school and, after individual counseling students create a specific program depending on the presence of difficulties at this age stage. Comparing the results before and after the correction process has allowed us to confirm the effectiveness of the program, which has been decided to comprehensively existing problems among students. Therefore, the students were well prepared for the examinations, and indicators on different scales were ranked in the allowed rate.

In 2015, so-called double (i.e., presidential and parliamentary) elections were held in Poland. The unquestionable winner of these elections was Law and Justice [Prawo i Sprawiedliwość], using slogans such as “good change” or “we’ll make it” in the campaign. The leitmotif of this campaign was discrediting any activities, including achievements, of the Civic Platform [Platforma Obywatelska] / Polish Peasant Party [Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe] coalition, addressing a “simple man” or the nation, and pointing out the need to involve the state institutions to implement the “good change” in favor of the “simple man”. Thus, Law and Justice adopted the anti-elitist position, pointing to the “pathologies of democracy in Poland”, mainly caused by the rule of the Liberals. Initiating the populist style of thinking was one of the reasons for the party’s success. This was an interesting research problem for us, especially that Law and Justice gained the trust of many young voters, aged 18–24.
The success of Kukiz’15 Election Committee, based on the third place achieved by musician Paweł Kukiz in the presidential election, was also very significant for our research questions. It was fascinating because Kukiz’15 Electoral Committee, apart from the popular slogan about the need to establish single-member electoral districts (JOW) and anti-elitist approach, did not offer the voters any vision of socio-political order in terms of ideology or programme. Still, it managed to persuade citizens to vote for Kukiz’15 in the parliamentary election.
These premises led to a research problem concerning the analysis of anxiety determinants that contributed to the positive reaction of voters, especially young ones, to the populist elements of the electoral campaign. Obviously, the fact that so-called soft populism is an inherent characteristic of all electoral campaigns was taken into account. Furthermore, we took into consideration the widespread occurrence of populist slogans in virtually all political programmes. Still, some questions remained unanswered, and the aim of the present study was to answer them. The primary question to answer is about the degree to which individual anxiety dispositions influence the development of populist attitudes among young people. Another important question is whether these are strong populist attitudes or just populist tendencies. The research results presented below are exploratory in character: this is only an introduction to further search for the answers to the above-mentioned questions.

The trauma of COVID-19 in Polish metropolises – a case study of Kraków

The article presents the results of research on the socio-cultural trauma induced by the coronavirus pandemic. The research was conducted on a sample of 650 inhabitants of Kraków. The CAWI survey (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) was used in the research. The pandemic and concurrent phenomena resulted in a decrease in living standard. It is related to all the aspects of daily functioning. The rise of coronavirus and its rapid spreading made people lose their existential security. Their current world became uncertain, which resulted in fear and anxiety among individuals. Anxiety, sadness, exhaustion, boredom and loneliness are present among dominant emotions. The presence of negative emotions indicates that the pandemic strongly influenced the emotional and mental lives of the respondents. As a response to the rising trauma, the inhabitants of Kraków mainly applied active strategies of coping with it. It is worth adding that the traumatic process has just been triggered and along with subsequent negative effects, which reveal themselves in the post-pandemic reality, it will accumulate and have a destructive impact on society.

The aim of this research is to analyze anxiety, knowledge, and belief toward e-learning acceptance, especially by science teachers in high schools in Aceh, Indonesia. About 117 teachers were randomly selected for this study. A questionnaire was used to collect data, and analyzed using the Likert scale. The results indicate that most teachers view the use of e-learning in teaching science to be positive. Despite the fact that only half of them are knowledgeable in the use of media and have concerns about some negative effects of e-learning on students, they still believed in the usefulness of e-learning in science education. Hence, more related research is recommended to further corroborate the findings of this study.

Stress and anxiety experienced at school is negatively correlated with school achievements and mental health. Experiencing stress and anxiety is common for young people of school age from all over the world. Previous experiences have significant influence on children’s self-efficacy and their self-confidence. Students’ school experiences are the main subject of this text. This article presents results of longitudinal studies among children from primary school. In 2016 a questionnaire was distributed among children in 2ⁿd and 3rd grade (N=82). In 2019 the same survey was conducted among the same children in 4t and 5t grade (N=82). Aft er several years of education students declare higher levels of stress and anxiety and lower levels of self-confidence and beliefs in their abilities in situations when they are evaluated at the board. Results of the research disclose a disquieting tendency in school experience.

Psychological determinants of homeschooling

The aim of the study was to analyze the psychological determinants of starting homeschooling by parents towards their school-age children. We analyzed the dependence of this decision on personality traits according to the Big Five, anxiety as a trait, hope trait and factors such as political and religious views or parents’ own school experiences. A comparative analysis has been made with parents whose children attend public primary schools. We used Hope for Success Questionnaire (Łaguna, Trzebiński & Zięba, 2005), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Wrześniewski, Sosnowski, Jaworowska & Fecenec, 2011), IPIP-BFM-20 Questionnaire (Topolewska, Skimina, Strus, Cieciuch & Rowiński, 2014), questions about homeschooling and demographics. Stronger hope for success, ability to find solutions, willpower, emotional stability and intellect, lower anxiety and conscientiousness were observed in parents undertaking homeschooling compared to parents of school children. A qualitative analysis was also conducted on the declaration of reasons for undertaking homeschooling. The article ends with recommendations for further empirical research.

This study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 pandemic anxiety experienced by students in Poland and its impact on their: social support, satisfaction with studying online and expectations of success in life. The data was obtained from a survey of Polish public and private university students. The research presented here examined the environmental and psychosocial effects of social withdrawal during the first period of the pandemic on the well-being and confidence in their chances for success in academic study. Recognising the individual and social condition of adolescents standing at the threshold of social maturity is essential to understanding the pedagogical and motivational consequences of institutional anti-pandemic regulation.

Approbation of the training program for the formation of personal identity of adolescents

The article presents the results of the empirically confirmed approbation of the training program for the formation of the personal identity of adolescents. A study of the psychological characteristics of adolescents’ identity and the factors that determine the success of the identity crisis is presented. The study reflects the implementation of two stages - ascertaining and forming. Reliable and valid psychodiagnostic methods are used: the method «Who am I?» of M. Kuhn and T. McPartland, methods of studying personal identity of L.B. Schneider, Spielberger- Hanin anxiety scale, the test of semantic life orientations of D.O. Leontiev. Novovolynsk high school № 4 named after T.G. Shevchenko was chosen as the experimental basis of the empirical study, with the participation of 30 respondents, aged 14-16. The first stage covers the data collection on the current state of personal identity of adolescents and the factors that are decisive in the process of its formation, among which are: low rates of «Communicative Self», «Material Self»; high scores according to two identity statuses (pseudo-positive, identity moratorium); low values on the subscales «Purpose in life», «Life process», «Life performance», «Locus of control Self», «Locus of control-life»; high level of anxiety. The areas in which the identity of the adolescent’s personality is best manifested have been identified - «Reflective Self», «Social Self». The formative stage represents the development of the training program «Know Yourself» in order to realize personal identity; comparative analysis of the results obtained during the ascertaining and formative research. As a result of verification of its relevance and effectiveness at the formative stage, a significant increase in the “Communicative Self” of adolescents; reducing the percentage of respondents with a pseudo-positive identity and a moratorium on identity; increase in the indicator of general meaningfulness; reduction of general anxiety. The effectiveness and efficiency of the training program are supported by the Student’s t-test, which presents the importance of indicators of the general level of anxiety and the general level of understanding. Perspective for further research is shown in a detailed study of indicators of personal identity crisis in adolescents in the form of empirical research, which aims to understand the success of adolescent identity and assess individual factors influencing the process of overcoming personal identity crisis.

The paper aimed to analyse the level of depression, anxiety and stress of female teachers and determine its association with the subjects’ psychosocial, sociodemographic, and lifestyle characteristics. A survey based on Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and International Physical Activity Questionnaire was carried out. Among teachers, 27.3% reported moderate or higher overall levels of negative emotional symptoms. Teachers with low physical activity level (PAL) were likelier to report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress than those with moderate or high PAL. The study indicates the importance of PA interventions for maintaining mental health in this group.

Polish Adaptation of the Online Test Anxiety Inventory (OTAI-PL)

Test anxiety is an obstacle that may influence education and professional life. Currently, the remote form of learning is widespread. Thus, a need for measuring test anxiety in an online setting appeared. The paper describes a validation process of a Polish adaptation of the Online Test Anxiety Inventory (OTAI). Three hundred thirty-nine students participated in the study. The confirmatory factor analysis showed a similar structure to the original study (Alibak et al., 2019). The inventory consists of three scales: psychological, physiological, and online. Results of a study indicated the validity of the Polish version of OTAI: we found gender differences and statistically significant correlations with self-esteem as well as with math anxiety. Moreover, we observed high internal consistency of scales and their high test-retest reliability. Based on these results, we argue that OTAI-PL can be considered a valid and reliable inventory, which allows online test anxiety measurement and can be particularly useful in times of pandemic and the pressure on the online form of education.

Therapeutic uses of music and anxiety level in teachers in times of pandemic – pilot study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in anxiety and distress in many populations. They particularly affected selected professional groups, e.g. teachers. Among the strategies for coping with anxiety and stress, interventions using music as a tool to reduce tension are showing promising results. For the purpose of this study, a therapeutic intervention protocol using various music-based activities was constructed. A pilot study was carried out to initially assess the effectiveness of the intervention, and – on the other hand – to check the feasibility of the proposed experiment in terms of methodology and practice. The study involved 13 participants (n = 13); a mixed study design with a triple-repeated measures was used (the GAD-7 Generalized Anxiety Questionnaire). The results were interpreted both in an individualized and experimental perspective, with a statistical analysis (ANOVA, Student’s t-test). They suggest that the original musical intervention contributed to the reduction of the level of anxiety in the time course. Due to the size of the sample and the pilot design of the study, the results should be treated with caution.

This article characterizes motivation for learning and school anxiety among pupils of the last two grades of primary school and junior high school students. The research method is the “I and My School” test by E. Zwierzyńska and A. Matuszewski. The research pinpoints low motivation for learning and an average level of anxiety among the tested adolescents. The gender does not diversify the motivation level. Girls are characterized by a higher level of school anxiety than boys. The motivation level rises in junior high school and the level of anxiety decreases. Good students have an equally low motivation level as poor ones but at the same time good students have a higher level of school anxiety. The following factors influence the low level of motivation among the tested students: general reluctance towards learning, low interest as far as the lesson is concerned and the teacher’s behaviour.

Students solving mathematical problems on the blackboard are an everyday routine in Slovenian classrooms. On the other hand, it is commonly known that students often consider this situation as threatening. In order to highlight this phenomenon, Slovenian elementary pre-service teachers (N=242) filled out an Internet questionnaire about preferred teaching techniques. Only a third of the participants saw this teaching technique as an effective method for learning. In a pedagogical experiment, three teaching techniques were probed in a problem solving based mathematics course with combinatorial and probability topics. Empirical results showed no significant differences in knowledge according to experimental groups.

The presented study is aimed to investigate the mediating effect of problem-focused strategy on the relationship between personality traits and state anxiety. Three hundred and seventy five Iranian high school students were selected using the random cluster sampling method. The instruments used were the personality inventory NEO-FFI-3, the coping inventory and the state anxiety scale. Results of the structural model showed that problem-focused partially mediated the paths between E and SA, and N and SA. The findings suggest personality traits and coping strategy selections as significant predictors of state anxiety.