The completeness of the family as a factor in the formation of the "I-concept" of adolescents

The socio-economic transformations that took place in Russian society at the end of the XX century, left an imprint on many spheres of life. One of the most affected aspects was the institution of the family. This is clearly demonstrated by the statistics of marriages and divorces. For example, in 1980 in the RSFSR there were registered almost one and a half million marriages and about six hundred thousand divorces. In recent years, the number of divorces has remained about the same, but the number of marriages has dropped to about a million per year [2]. The situation looks even more depressing in terms of the "durability" of marriages. In the USSR, 80 percent of marriages were concluded, while now this figure has dropped to 30 percent [3]. The combination of the above factors has led to a rapid increase in the number of single-parent families, where a child is raised by one parent (predominantly the mother).

As researches of scientists-psychologists show (T.V. Andreeva, A.A. Deryabin), life and conditions of education of the child in a single-parent family have a peculiar specificity in comparison with children from a complete family. It influences the psychological development of the child, in particular on the formation of the so-called "I-connection". A great number of works in the scientific and psychological literature (B.G. Ananiev, R. Burns, G. Mead) are devoted to this concept and it is still a relevant concept to study today. We consider the concept offered by the English psychologist Robert Burns to be the most coherent. He defined self-concept as a set of ideas of an individual about himself, as well as the evaluation of these ideas. In his writings [1, p.26], Burns distinguished three main components of this concept: cognitive, evaluative and behavioral. A person's awareness that he/she possesses a certain set of qualities and characteristics, building their hierarchy, periodically subjective perception of own capabilities - all this forms the cognitive component of the self-concept. Each person analyzes the image of his own "I", evaluates it and may experience certain feelings about it. This can result in the adoption of certain attitudes. Thus, all components of the self-concept are interconnected.

We chose adolescence for the study because it is a period of significant transformations in both physical and psychological development. The main role is played by communication with peers, during which there is a development of a set of certain rules of behavior caused by aspiration to be like an adult. During adolescence, the number of stressors increases dramatically, so it is difficult to overestimate the importance of successfully combating them. Relationships with parents become more strained, often leading to conflict situations. The situation is especially difficult in incomplete families.

The results of the test "incomplete sentences" also showed that 77% of adolescents from complete families perceive it positively. They feel the love and care shown by their parents and spend a lot of time together. Twenty-three percent of those surveyed from complete families talk about some difficulties in mutual understanding, but in general consider the family a reliable support in life. The number of the same teenagers from incomplete families rises to 72%, and 14% of the respondents find the family unhappy and constant quarrels. Thus, adolescents from single-parent families have a more negative bias towards the family. This is not surprising, because the absence of one parent leads to a redistribution of roles in the process of raising a child: the entire load falls on the remaining parent, who cannot simultaneously perform the functions of father and mother. As a consequence, the teenager does not develop a stable positive image of the family.

The self-perception of adolescents from complete families is predominantly positive. 46% of respondents have an adequate level of self-esteem, believe in their own strength, and are able to successfully overcome difficulties. As for teens from single-parent families, 93% of the respondents have complaints about their appearance or psychological stability. When difficulties arise, they do not try to put more effort into overcoming them, but rather become frustrated, shut down, and start looking for reasons within themselves.

Performance of the self-portrait test by teenagers from complete families showed that due to the placement of the drawing in the center of the sheet, they have a generally adequate self-esteem. Almost all parts of the body are present in the drawing, but there are cases of the absence of legs. This is evidence of the emotional instability typical of adolescence. The size of the head in the majority of cases is disproportionately large, which points to high intellectual pretensions and aspiration to be a leader. Not uncommon are the creation of large drawings and images of eyes without pupils - these are expressions of narcissism, infantilism and emotional immaturity, which could also be attributed to age-specific features. Among the works of teenagers from incomplete families, pictures at the bottom of the sheet are more common, which reflects a lower level of self-esteem and self-confidence. Because of the lack of attention, children from incomplete families aspire to express themselves deliberately, demonstratively; therefore, their drawings include careful drawing of hair and clothing elements. In about one-third of the drawings, hands are in pockets. This signals a pronounced protective mechanism; it is responsible for minimization of negative experiences.

Summarizing all of the above, we can conclude that the completeness of the family affects the formation of self-concept of adolescent children. Students from complete families have an optimistic picture of the future, they are confident in themselves and in achieving their goals. They get along well with family members and others around them. Teenagers from incomplete families are characterized by misunderstandings in relations with relatives. The future does not look good for them, but they have a set of qualities that will allow them to realize themselves and create a happy family. To exclude the negative scenario of the development of the life situation, the help of a school psychologist is recommended to teenagers from incomplete families.