Research of information and psychological security skills of students with orphan status in the post-guardian period

Orphaned children and children left without parental care are a vulnerable category of citizens requiring the organization of psychological, pedagogical, and social support at different stages of adulthood, including during the period of post-guardianship. Awareness and critical thinking as information and psychological security skills among students with orphan status were studied. The comparison group included students with parents. The Student's t-test, and Spearman's correlation analysis were used. The study involved 240 students (46 % boys, 54 % girls), aged 18–25 years (M = 21.99; SD = 1.6). The main group included 120 orphans and children left without parental care during the period of post-guardianship. The comparison group consisted of 120 students with parents. The Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire by R. Baer et al. (adaptation by N.M. Yumartova, N.V. Grishina) and The Questionnaire of Intellectual Skills by Yu.F. Gushchin, I.I. Ilyasov. The statistical package STATISTICA version 10 was used to process statistical data. The average values in all parameters in the main group were significantly lower than in the comparison group. The formation of information and psychological security skills (awareness, critical thinking) among students with orphan status was lower than among students. The interrelation between the level of critical thinking and such components of awareness as observation, description and non-reaction was revealed. There is a need to develop and implement psychological and pedagogical programs aimed at developing the skills of information and psychological security for students both in the educational process and in the social and educational work.