Exploring «Problem Field» in High School Students

The article describes theoretical grounds, techniques and main results of a research on «problem field» in high school students, substantiating the appropriateness of introducing this notion. About five hundred VIII—XI grade students completed a special questionnaire, 'The World of Feelings', that was used to assess the intensity of adolescents' feelings towards seven main problem areas and therefore to define the contours of the problem field in high school students. According to the results obtained in the research, the most significant problem area for the students is their future, and the least significant areas are their appearance and health, communication with adults and peers, and problems of everyday life. Problems concerning school life, ego development and self-enrichment occupy an intermediate position in the problem field. As it was found, the general level of feelings is not so high, and, while noticing the existence of problem situations in their lives, adolescents do not always tend to experience intense feelings towards them. Moreover, there were several groups within the sample that differed from each other in the level of feelings. The contours of the problem field, however, remained constant, which makes it possible to think that the problem field in high school students is relatively invariant.

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