Mediation of a Teenager’s Experiencing as Predictor of Emotional Self-Regulation of Adolescents with Developmental Delay

The problem of the development of emotional self-regulation as a process of becoming an independent experiencing in its cultural sign-symbolic mediation is discussed. The results of the study are presented: the process of becoming an independent experience in adolescents with developmental delay. The sample consisted of 42 normotypic adolescents and 25 adolescents with developmental delay. Methods: psychodiagnostic – drawing “My emotional state”, author's questionnaire, composition “The meaning of music in my life”; methods of qualitative data analysis: methods of grounded theory, content analysis. Methods of mathematical statistics: frequency analysis, criterion – Fisher angular transformation. A generalizing conclusion is made that the mediation of the experience of a teenager with developmental delay is largely difficult. Music plays the role of “activation” – strengthening the actual state of a teenager, but the experiencing remains incomplete, since there is only saturation of the immediate bodily-perceived level of it. Low cognitive and reflexive abilities of adolescents with developmental delay do not allow using an artistic image as a means-incentive for “mastering oneself”.

Introduction

The formation of emotional self-regulation of adolescents with developmental delay (DD) is one of the most acute problems facing the system of general education. The lack of adequate psychological and pedagogical support of the process of personal development of adolescents with DD leads to social maladaptation of such students [1]. There are studies of adolescents' socialization, its phenomenology, sociology and methods of correction, but they do not provide a sufficiently complete understanding of the basic psychological mechanisms of the formation of self-regulation - emotional and, more broadly, personal - which largely determines the ability to manage behavior, to perform actions based on the cultural values of society [12].

We consider the formation of emotional self-regulation in child and adolescent development as the process of the emergence of independence of experience, and experience is understood as an activity of comprehension of a critical situation in the methodology of the cultural-activity approach (L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, F.E. Vasilyuk). Since the psychic prerequisites for the formation of independence of experience are formed only by adolescence, it is this age that is the most sensitive and socially significant - as a transitional age to adolescence, in which full-fledged subjectivity and independence of experience becomes possible. In available literature, no research has been found on the age specifics of the formation of experience as a higher mental function in adolescents with both normotypical development and intellectual disability, which determines the relevance of this study. The article presents the results of the study, the first part of which was discussed in 2022. [19].

The following provisions served as theoretical bases of the study:

1. Emotional regulation as a component of experience mediation

In Russian psychology, emotional regulation is considered within the framework of the study of self-regulation in general: as the effect of a person's organization of his activity on the basis of the self-organization of various subsystems of primary mental processes, properties and states that act as a means of implementing this activity [14], as regulation of mental states [16], self-regulation of functional states in professional activity [7], in studies of behavior control [17].

Considering emotional self-regulation as a component of the mediation process, we can understand it as the dynamics of transition from lower to higher affective formations, directly related to the change in the relationship between affect and intellect [6]. Mediation can be defined as arbitrary meaning-making, the management of one's own meaning sphere through its realization and restructuring [8]. Consequently, we consider emotional self-regulation as an effect of experience becoming independent [20], in which the subject solves a "task of meaning" [3]. [3].

Mediation involves both entering the field of cognitive means and arbitrary regulation - keeping the subject in a situation of difficulty [11]. The adult "holds" the child in a subjective position in relation to his or her own experience - encourages the child to "turn toward himself or herself. The regulatory function of the self-consciousness of the individual the key place where intellect and affect are united. It is from this position - the subjective regulation of emotional behavioral reactions - that a discussion of motivational and meaningful bases is possible.

2. Artistic image as a symbol and means of development of experience-activity of adolescents

Considering the means-stimuli of mediation, we can speak about a certain continuum, on one side of which there are means of symbolic mediation, and on the other - of sign mediation [5; 15]. In mediating natural processes of experience, the symbol turns out to be the most accessible to the subject cognitive sign-stimulus, which appears to be a means of emotion management, since it fixes even vaguely felt tension [5, p. 53], vague bodily-felt states [6; 18; 20; 21]. The artistic image that connects the sensual fabric of consciousness with its semantic component turns out to be a kind of symbolic form [4; 15].

Speaking in the language of psychotechnics, symbolization is a tool for transforming bodily experiences into a psychic form of a symbol and meaning in co-experiencing the Other [5; 20]. At the moment of symbolization of experience, its subject appears - the one who comprehends the "inner flow of impressions". The artistic image of a musical composition for an adolescent turns out to be a means of symbolizing one’s own experience [19]. The mediation of natural experience, which occurs when listening to music, manifests itself as a movement from a bodily-felt sensation to meaningfulness, when the word "songs" turns out to be some intermediate result and a means of emotional self-regulation.

Studies of emotional self-regulation of children and adolescents with DD prove insufficient development of self-control of emotions and behavior, as well as an insufficient level of stress resistance [2; 10]; a low level of formation of moral perceptions and moral self-awareness, internal passivity – an insufficient need for self-knowledge and self-development; a weaker development of reflection [9; 10; 13; 20]. It was proved that music (song) is a cultural means of mastering the subject's own experience in normotypically developing adolescents [19]. No studies of sign-symbolic mediation of experience in adolescents with DD have been found.

In the framework of this work, research questions were posed about how the mediation of experience occurs in adolescents with DD, and to what extent the autonomy of experience is possible in this variant of development.

Methods and organization of the study

Sample. The study was conducted in February-October 2022 on the basis of general education schools in Omsk (№ 12, № 33), Moscow (№ 657) and special (correctional) school № 522 in St. Petersburg. 67 adolescents participated: 42 normotypic adolescents and 25 adolescents with DD at the age of 14-15 years. The reason for choosing this particular age period was the fact that 14-15 years old is the age at which personal reflection actively develops and manifests itself in the adolescent's self-consciousness.

To investigate the mediation of experience as a factor of emotional self-regulation in adolescents, an experiment[1] was organized: 1) adolescents were asked to draw their current emotional state in the form of an image (drawing "My Emotional State") and fill in the first part of the author's questionnaire; 2) at the next stage, adolescents chose a musical composition and listened to it; 3) at the last stage, adolescents again drew their emotional state and filled in the second part of the questionnaire. 4) The task of depicting their own emotional state and answering the questions of the questionnaire was offered to adolescents as a stimulus for a better realization of the changes occurring to them while listening to musical compositions.

Data collection methods: projective drawing, questionnaire, essay.

The drawing "My Emotional State" was used to realize and express in the image the content of the emotional state with the help of artistic means.

The author's questionnaire was developed by A.M. Fedoseeva based on the theory and practice of experiential psychotherapy [3; 20]. The purpose of the author's questionnaire: to determine how favorite music affects mood. The obtained data were processed using content analysis.

Choice of musical composition. Adolescents were offered to choose one of their favorite musical compositions in their collections in social networks and listen to it in headphones (in-canal). Since the purpose of the experiment was to investigate the individual process of mediating experience, the musical composition had to correspond with the exact experience that was actualized by the participant. In this context, it was not important what kind of music the adolescents listened to; it was their independent choice of music at the moment of actualization of the experience that was important.

Methods for analyzing and interpreting the qualitative data. The grounded theory method of B. Glaser and A. Strauss was used to analyze the empirical data (B.G. Glaser, A.L. Strauss, 1967). The method involves a data selection process that combines data collection, coding, and analysis. The content analysis method was used to process the questionnaire responses. Methods of mathematical statistics: frequency analysis, φ*-criterion, Fisher's angular transformation.

Results of the study

As a result of the experiment, it was not possible to obtain relevant data for comparing adolescents of different groups through the drawing method "My Emotional State": adolescents with DD could not depict their state in the form of an image-symbol (with the exception of 4 people). The comparison of the groups showed that the difficulty of depicting the emotional state in the form of an image-symbol is common for adolescents of this age. Nevertheless, in the group of normotypical adolescents 36 people (85.7%) were able to symbolically represent their emotional state in a drawing before and after the experiment, while in the group of adolescents with DD only 4 people (16.0%) were able to do so; after listening to music, adolescents with DD could only describe in words, but could not symbolically represent their state.

This result is reflected in the category "Quality of Change in Emotional State": while all normotypic adolescents indicated that internal changes occurred, 48.0% (12 people) of adolescents with DD indicated that no changes in state occurred.

Table 1 presents the results of changes in the emotional "tonality" of the adolescents' state. While in the group of normotypical adolescents, after listening to the musical composition, the number of participants in a neutral state decreased (φ*=3.400, p<0.01) and the number of adolescents experiencing positive emotions increased (φ*=5.582, p<0.01), in the group of adolescents with DD, despite some increase in positive emotional state, there were no statistically significant changes. It is also important to note that 35.3% of the adolescents with DD were in a negative state at the time of the study, this state in them practically did not change (a negative emotional state remained in 7 out of 8 adolescents).

Table 1

Changes in the Emotional State of Adolescents While Listening to a Musical Composition

Note: ** - p<0.01.

The expressiveness of the images in adolescents with DD draws attention: it either cannot be assessed - the adolescent refuses to depict (symbolize) the state, or the drawings are depicted with a high degree of expressiveness - in terms of symbolism or the quality of the use of artistic means.

Table 2 presents the frequency of the occurrence of categories identified in the interpretive analysis in adolescents. It is necessary to make a remark: 1) the categories obtained during the analysis of the results in normotypic adolescents turned out to be redundant in relation to the results obtained in a sample of adolescents with DD [19]; 2) categories that occur only in the group of adolescents with DD were identified.

Table 2

Comparison of the Frequency of Categories of Experience Change During Listening to Music in Different Groups of Adolescents

Note: ** - p<0.01.

Let us disclose in more detail the categories selected in the comparison, emphasizing the characteristic traits of mediating the experience of adolescents with DD.

Category 1. Immersion in the experience

1.1 The activation of direct experience: under the influence of musical intonation, the adolescent immerses into direct experience. Examples of statements: "Music motivates me to do what I want to do...", "If you sing with shouting, it becomes easier...". The difference between adolescents with DD is that in their statements they have no subject whose experiences are activated. This is an unconscious process, and in adolescents’ answers we see only the fixating of the results of involvement or actions.

1.2 Psychological defense: protective fantasizing is found in the descriptions of adolescents of both groups. Example: "When I turned on the music, I went back to a marvelous world. And when I listened, it was as if time stopped...". Compared to the active imagination of normotypic adolescents (e.g., compare: "I imagine everyone sitting around the table together in the evening..."), the imagination of adolescents with DD is passive.

Category 2. Reasons for choosing music

In contrast to normotypical adolescents, adolescents with DD give only one reason for choosing a musical composition - "I like it". While normotypical adolescents say that they want to relax or "have fun", as well as get involved in the current experience, adolescents with DD more often cannot realize what exactly they want at the moment of choice, they have no correlation between the mood of the musical composition and their state - 18 (72.0%). Also, adolescents with DD fixate the reason for choosing a musical composition, which is not found in normotypical adolescents, - rhythm: 8 (32,0%).

Category 3. Realization of the personal meaning of the experience

In the group of normotypical adolescents there are different variants - focusing on the key statement of the song’s text without interpreting its meaning in the context of their experience (although the questionnaire question stimulates them to do so), focusing with interpretation and a refusal to mediate the natural experience with a word or image. Adolescents with DD do not realize their experiences (there is no reflection of the experience in the answer text) - 15 (60,0%) or a phrase from the song is fixated without deciphering its personal meaning - 10 (40,0%). We assume that adolescents carried out the instruction without listening to themselves: it was more a rational fulfillment of the task rather than engagement in the process of comprehension.

Category 4. Quality of state change

In the group of adolescents with DD, 48.0% of participants indicated that their state did not change in the process of listening to music. That is, music did not act as a means of emotional regulation, did not mediate their experience. It is also important to highlight category 4.7. Falling into an involuntary experience: in 4 (16%) adolescents with DD listening to music led to an unreflective involving natural experience of the current emotional state. Thus, musical intonation induces an almost hypnotic - altered - state of consciousness, when the "music takes them away".

Discussion of the results

The obtained results showed difficulties in mediating their own experiences in both groups of adolescents. Symbolization of experiences is practically inaccessible to adolescents with DD: even the most "simple" and primary way of mediating - the symbol, which appears in preschoolers' games, is difficult as a means of mastering one's own experiences. The correlation of symbols as images, metaphors, and meanings - the words that the adolescents used to describe their experiences - shows that verbal descriptions are conventionally more accessible to the adolescent for reporting his or her state. It can be assumed that this paradox is resolved in the following way: the word is used by the adolescent as a meaning filled with personal significance, but it can also be used as a form of this meaning - without realizing its personal meaning, without trying to use it as a tool for comprehending their unclear, undifferentiated emotional state.

The results of the study allow us to state the fact that musical compositions are not a naturally occurring tool for mediating the experience of an adolescent with DD. The formation of the position of the subject of experience in adolescents with DD does not occur even in a situation stimulated by an adult. Music turns out to be a means of strengthening the bodily-felt emotional state, a protopathic sensitivity: at the level of rhythm, but not emotions and feelings. It can be assumed that this is a consequence of an insufficient cognitive means of self-awareness in adolescents; it can also be a consequence of the fact that the adolescent does not discover in himself the content that can be mediated – there are insufficient reflective abilities, which have not yet emerged as a new formation of age.

Nevertheless, adolescents with DD are as fond of listening to music as normotypical adolescents. Artistic images of musical compositions turn out to be for them a means of saturating the level of immediate experience. Without a developed ability of cognitive control and reflective position of the subject of experience, it is difficult for adolescents to withstand strong emotions, which leads to an inability to conscious emotional self-regulation. An example of the formation of such self-regulation can be the situation when an adolescence sets a goal - to cope with his feelings, to calm himself down.

Conclusion

Thus, we can conclude that the mediation of the experience of an adolescent with DD is significantly impeded. Music fulfills the role of "activation" - strengthening the current state of the adolescent, but the experience remains incomplete, because there is a saturation of the immediate bodily felt sensing level. Low cognitive and reflective abilities of adolescents with DD do not allow them to use stimuli for "mastering themselves". The formation of independence of experience as a condition of personal development and social adaptation of adolescents with DD requires the mediating action of an adult accordingly.

[1] The research design is quasi-experimental

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