Development of self-regulation in students with maladaptive behavior

Context and relevance. Adolescence is characterized by the development of self-regulation, which involves an individual style of behavior that manifests itself through purposefulness and voluntariness. A low level of self-regulation typically leads to maladaptive behavior. To develop self-regulation in maladaptive adolescents, it is necessary to study the characteristics of regulatory processes. The research is based on a differential approach that focuses on individual differences and the style of voluntary human activity in the conscious setting of goals and the management of their achievement. To develop a program for the development of adolescents' self-regulation, a competence-based approach is used, which considers conscious self-regulation as a set of universal and specific competencies that ensure independent goal-setting, decision-making, and achievement.. Objective. Identification of the features of self-regulation processes in socially maladjusted adolescents, as well as the development and testing of a psychological and pedagogical program aimed at developing self-regulation in students with maladaptive behavior. Hypothesis. 1. Students with social maladjustment experience difficulties in self-regulation due to insufficient development of planning processes, programming of actions, flexibility, evaluation of results, and developed destructive independence. 2. The psychological and pedagogical program, developed taking into account the identified features, helps to eliminate the difficulties of self-regulation in students, which contributes to reducing the manifestations of social maladjustment. Methods and materials. The study involved 37 students from general education institutions aged 12 to 14. To assess the self-regulation of disadapted students, the “Style of Self-Regulation of Behavior - SSPM 2020” (SSPM-2020) method was used, developed by V.I. Morosanova. The determination of reliable differences between the self-regulation processes of adolescents with maladaptive and normotipical behavior is confirmed by the Mann-Whitney U-test. The effectiveness of the developed program is confirmed by the use of the Wilcoxon t-test when comparing the results on a dependent sample. Results. The study identified the features of self-regulation processes in maladjusted students that distinguish them from a group of adolescents with normative behavior: in planning (a tendency towards fantasies instead of real planning, and spontaneous decision-making); in modeling actions (a lack of understanding of significant external and internal conditions, and insufficient awareness of situations); in programming (an inability to form consistent action programs); in flexibility (uncertainty in new situations, instability of intentions, especially when faced with difficulties); and in evaluating results (a lack of critical and subjective assessment of one's own performance, and a lack of preparedness for challenges). At the same time, maladaptive adolescents demonstrate higher levels of independence than their peers with normotypical behavior, which manifests itself in autonomy and activity in areas that are significant to them, as well as in their desire to avoid responsibility, strict rules, and requirements. Conclusions. Adolescents with social maladjustment have specific features of self-regulation: weak processes of planning, modeling, programming, flexibility, and evaluation of results, while they have a high level of independence in destructive forms of behavior. The effectiveness of developing self-regulation processes (planning, modeling, programming, evaluation of results, flexibility, and independence) in maladjusted adolescents has been proven, provided that a psychological and pedagogical program is implemented based on the formation of universal and specific competencies.