Causes of school anxiety in children of primary school age. Causes of anxiety in children of primary school age School anxiety primary school age

COURSE WORK

"The study of anxiety factors in children of primary school age"

Introduction

2 Analysis of the results of experimental work on the study of anxiety factors in children of primary school age

Conclusion

Bibliography

Applications

Introduction

Currently, anxiety is one of the most common phenomena of mental development encountered in school practice. Anxiety is manifested in constant anxiety, uncertainty, anticipation of adverse developments, constant anticipation of the worst, emotional instability.

Feelings of anxiety at school age are inevitable. However, the intensity of this experience should not exceed the "critical point" individual for each child, after which it begins to have a disorganizing, rather than a mobilizing effect. When the level of anxiety exceeds the optimal limit, a person panics. In an effort to avoid failure, he withdraws from activities, or puts everything on achieving success in a particular situation and is so exhausted that he “fails” in other situations. And all this increases the fear of failure, anxiety increases, becoming a constant hindrance. Both parents and teachers are well aware of how painful the years of study are for anxious children. But the school time is the main and fundamental part of childhood: this is the time of personality formation, the choice of a life path, mastery of social norms and rules. If anxiety and self-doubt turn out to be the leitmotif of the student's experiences, then an anxious, suspicious personality is formed. The choice of a profession for such a person is based on the desire to protect oneself from failure, communication with peers and teachers is not a joy, but a burden. And the intellectual development of a schoolchild, when he is bound hand and foot by anxiety, is not combined with the development of creative abilities, originality of thinking, and curiosity.

The study of anxiety in younger schoolchildren is extremely important in connection with the problem of the emotional and personal development of children, the preservation of their health. In this paper, I consider one of its aspects - the question of the factors provoking the manifestation of high anxiety in children of primary school age.

The relevance of the chosen research topic is determined by the tasks of psychological and pedagogical practice set before it in connection with the modern requirements of society for various aspects of a child's health. Childhood, especially primary school age, is decisive in the formation of a child's personality, since during this period of life, the basic properties and personal qualities are formed and largely determine all of his subsequent development. The degree of manifestation of anxiety depends on the success of a student in school, the characteristics of his relationship with peers, the effectiveness of adaptation to new conditions.

Changing social relationships can present significant difficulties for the child. Many children during periods of adaptation to school begin to experience anxiety, emotional tension, become restless, withdrawn, whiny. It is especially important at this time to exercise control over the preservation of the psycho-emotional well-being of the child. The problem of diagnosing and preventing childhood anxiety deserves special attention, since, developing into a property and personal quality of a child at primary school age, anxiety can become a stable personality trait in adolescence, cause neuroses and psychosomatic diseases in adulthood.

Many studies have been devoted to the study of school anxiety. In foreign psychology, the phenomenon of anxiety was studied by Z. Freud, K. Horney, A. Freud, J. Taylor, R. May and others. In domestic psychology, works on the problem of anxiety by V.R. Kislovskaya, A.M. Parishioners, Yu.L. Khanina, I.A. Musina, V.M. Astapova. Currently, in our country, anxiety is studied mainly within the narrow framework of specific problems: school anxiety (E.V. Novikova, T.A. Nezhnova, A.M. Parishioners), examination anxiety (V.S. Rotenberg, S.M. Bondarenko), anxiety of expectations in social communication (V.R. Kislovskaya, A.M. Parishioners).

The research problem is formulated as follows: what are the factors of anxiety in children of primary school age?

Solving this problem is the goal of this study.

The object of the study is the manifestation of anxiety in children of primary school age.

The subject of the study is the relationship of anxiety with the status position in the classroom in children of primary school age.

The hypothesis of the study is that a high level of anxiety in children of primary school age is associated with a status position in the classroom.

To achieve this goal and test the proposed research hypothesis, the following tasks were identified:

To study the theoretical substantiation of the phenomenon of anxiety in domestic and foreign psychology;
To investigate the features of the manifestation of anxiety in children of primary school age;
To study anxiety factors in children of primary school age;
Describe the system of psychodiagnostic methods for determining the level of anxiety in children of primary school age;
To experimentally study the factors of manifestation of anxiety in children of primary school age.

Research methods: analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature, the method of sociometric measurements for diagnosing interpersonal relationships in the classroom, the Phillips test of school anxiety.

Experimental base. The study was conducted on the basis of MBOU "Secondary School No. 59" of the city of Cheboksary.

Chapter I. Theoretical substantiation of the problem of anxiety in primary school age

1 Research anxiety in domestic and foreign psychology

In the psychological literature, one can find different definitions of the concept of anxiety, although most researchers agree that it is necessary to consider it differently: as a situational phenomenon and as a personal characteristic, taking into account the transitional state and its dynamics. Distinguish between anxiety as an emotional state and as a stable property, personality trait or temperament. By definition

R.S. Nemova: "Anxiety is a constantly or situationally manifested property of a person to come in a state of increased anxiety, to experience fear and anxiety in specific social situations."

A.M. Parishioners indicate that anxiety is “an experience of emotional discomfort associated with the expectation of trouble, with a premonition of imminent danger.”

By definition, A.V. Petrovsky: “Anxiety is an individual's tendency to experience anxiety, characterized by a low threshold for the occurrence of an anxiety reaction; one of the main parameters of individual differences. Anxiety is usually increased in neuropsychiatric and severe somatic diseases, as well as in healthy people experiencing the consequences of psychotrauma, in many groups of people with a deviant subjective manifestation of personality ill-being.

Modern research on anxiety is aimed at distinguishing between situational anxiety associated with a specific external situation and personal anxiety, which is a stable personality trait. And also on the development of methods for analyzing anxiety, as a result of the interaction of the individual and his environment.

An analysis of the literature allows us to consider anxiety from different points of view, allowing the assertion that increased anxiety arises and is realized as a result of a complex interaction of cognitive, affective and behavioral reactions provoked when a person is exposed to various stresses.

In a study of the level of aspirations in adolescents, M.Z. Neimark found a negative emotional state in the form of anxiety, fear, aggression, which was caused by the dissatisfaction of their claims to success. Also, emotional distress such as anxiety was observed in children with high self-esteem. They claimed to occupy the highest position in the team, although they did not have real opportunities to realize their claims.

Domestic psychologists believe that inadequately high self-esteem in children develops as a result of improper upbringing, inflated assessments by adults of the success of the child, praise, exaggeration of his achievements, and not as a manifestation of an innate desire for superiority.

The high assessment of others and the self-esteem based on it suits the child quite well. The collision with difficulties and new requirements reveals its inconsistency. However, the child strives with all his might to maintain his high self-esteem, as it provides him with self-respect, a good attitude towards himself. However, the child does not always succeed. Claiming a high level of achievement in learning, he may not have sufficient knowledge, skills to achieve them, negative qualities or character traits may not allow him to take the desired position among his peers in the class. Thus, the contradictions between high claims and real possibilities can lead to a difficult emotional state.

From the dissatisfaction of needs, the child develops defense mechanisms that do not allow recognition of failure, insecurity and loss of self-esteem into consciousness. He tries to find the reasons for his failures in other people: parents, teachers, comrades. He tries not to admit even to himself that the reason for failure is in himself, comes into conflict with everyone who points out his shortcomings, shows irritability, resentment, aggressiveness.

M.S. Neimark calls this "the affect of inadequacy - a sharp emotional desire to protect oneself from one's own weakness, by any means to prevent self-doubt, repulsion of the truth, anger and irritation against everything and everyone" . This condition can become chronic and last for months or years. A strong need for self-affirmation leads to the fact that the interests of these children are directed only at themselves.

Such a state cannot but cause anxiety in the child. Initially, anxiety is justified, it is caused by real difficulties for the child. But constantly, as the inadequacy of the child’s attitude towards himself, his abilities, people is consolidated, inadequacy will become a stable feature of his attitude to the world, the child will expect trouble in any cases that are objectively negative for him.

M.S. Neimark shows that affect becomes an obstacle to the correct formation of personality, so it is very important to overcome it. It is very difficult to overcome the affect of inadequacy. The main task is to really bring the child's needs and abilities into line, or help him raise his real possibilities to the level of self-esteem, or lower his self-esteem. But the most realistic way is to switch the interests and claims of the child to the area where the child can succeed and assert himself.

The term "anxiety" is used to describe an emotional state or internal condition that is unpleasant in its color, which is characterized by subjective feelings of tension, anxiety, gloomy forebodings, and, on the physiological side, by the activation of the autonomic nervous system. The state of anxiety occurs when an individual perceives a certain stimulus or situation as carrying actual or potential elements of danger, threat or harm. The state of anxiety can vary in intensity and change over time as a function of the level of stress to which the individual is exposed.

Unlike anxiety as a state, anxiety as a personality trait is not inherent in everyone. An anxious person is a person who is constantly not confident in himself and his decisions, is always waiting for trouble, is emotionally unstable, suspicious, distrustful. Anxiety as a personality trait can be a precursor to the development of neurosis. But in order for it to form, a person must accumulate a baggage of unsuccessful, inadequate ways to overcome the state of anxiety.

A large number of authors believe that anxiety is an integral part of a state of strong mental stress - stress. So, V.V. Suvorova studied stress obtained in the laboratory. She defines stress as a condition that occurs in extreme conditions that are very difficult and unpleasant for a person. V.S. Merlin defines stress as psychological rather than nervous tension that occurs in an "extremely difficult situation."

It can be assumed that the presence of anxiety in a state of stress is associated precisely with the expectation of danger or trouble, with a premonition of it. Therefore, anxiety may not arise directly in a situation of stress, but before the onset of these conditions, to get ahead of them. Anxiety, as a state, is the expectation of trouble. However, anxiety can be different depending on who the subject expects trouble from: from himself (his failure), from objective circumstances, or from other people.

It is important that, firstly, both under stress and frustration, the authors note the subject's emotional distress, which is expressed in anxiety, anxiety, confusion, fear, uncertainty. But this anxiety is always justified, connected with real difficulties. I.V. Imedadze directly connects the state of anxiety with a premonition of frustration. In her opinion, anxiety arises when anticipating a situation containing the danger of frustration of an actualized need.

We find an approach to explaining the tendency to anxiety in terms of the physiological characteristics of the properties of the nervous system from domestic psychologists. So, in the laboratory of I.P. Pavlov, it was found that, most likely, a nervous breakdown under the influence of external stimuli occurs in a weak type, then in an excitable type, and animals with a strong balanced type with good mobility are least prone to breakdowns.

Data from B.M. Teplova also point to the connection between the state of anxiety and the strength of the nervous system. His assumptions about the inverse correlation of the strength and sensitivity of the nervous system found experimental confirmation in the studies of V.D. Fiction. He makes the assumption of a higher level of anxiety with a weak type of nervous system.

Finally, we should dwell on the work of V.S. Merlin, who studied the issue of the symptom complex of anxiety.

The understanding of anxiety was introduced into psychology by psychoanalysts and psychiatrists abroad. Many representatives of psychoanalysis considered anxiety as an innate property of the personality, as a condition originally inherent in a person. The founder of psychoanalysis, Z. Freud, argued that a person has several innate drives - instincts that are the driving force behind a person's behavior and determine his mood. Z. Freud believed that the clash of biological drives with social prohibitions gives rise to neuroses and anxiety. The original instincts as a person grows up receive new forms of manifestation. However, in new forms, they run into the prohibitions of civilization, and a person is forced to mask and suppress his desires. The drama of the individual's mental life begins at birth and continues throughout life. Freud sees a natural way out of this situation in the sublimation of "libidinal energy", that is, in the direction of energy for other life goals: production and creative. Successful sublimation frees a person from anxiety.

In individual psychology, A. Adler offers a new look at the origin of neuroses. According to Adler, neurosis is based on such mechanisms as fear, fear of life, fear of difficulties, as well as the desire for a certain position in a group of people that the individual, due to any individual characteristics or social conditions, could not achieve, that is, it is clearly visible that at the heart of neurosis are situations in which a person, due to certain circumstances, to one degree or another experiences a feeling of anxiety. The feeling of inferiority can arise from a subjective feeling of physical weakness or any shortcomings of the body, or from those mental properties and qualities of a person that interfere with satisfying the need for communication. Thus, according to Adler, at the heart of neuroses and anxiety lies the contradiction between "want" (the will to power) and "can" (inferiority), arising from the desire for superiority. Depending on how this contradiction is resolved, all further development of the personality takes place.

The problem of anxiety became the subject of a special study among neo-Freudians, and above all, K. Horney.

In Horney's theory, the main sources of personal anxiety and anxiety are not rooted in the conflict between biological drives and social inhibitions, but are the result of wrong human relationships.

In The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, Horney lists 11 neurotic needs:

)Neurotic need for affection and approval, desire to please others, to be pleasant;

)Neurotic need for a "partner" who fulfills all desires, expectations, fear of being alone;

)Neurotic need to limit one's life to narrow limits, to remain unnoticed;

)Neurotic need for power over others through the mind, foresight;

)Neurotic need to exploit others, to get the best from them;

)Need for social recognition or prestige;

)The need for personal adoration. An inflated self-image;

)Neurotic claims to personal achievement, the need to excel others;

)Neurotic need for self-satisfaction and independence, the need not to need anyone;

)Neurotic need for love;

)Neurotic need for superiority, perfection, inaccessibility.

K. Horney believes that by satisfying these needs, a person seeks to get rid of anxiety, but neurotic needs are insatiable, they cannot be satisfied, and, therefore, there are no ways to get rid of anxiety.

E. Fromm approaches the understanding of anxiety differently. He believes that in the era of medieval society, with its mode of production and class structure, a person was not free, but he was not isolated and alone, did not feel in such danger and did not experience such anxieties as under capitalism, because he was not " alienated" from things, from nature, from people. Man was connected to the world by primary ties, which Fromm calls "natural social ties" that exist in primitive society. With the growth of capitalism, the primary bonds are broken, a free individual appears, cut off from nature, from people, as a result of which he experiences a deep sense of insecurity, impotence, doubt, loneliness and anxiety. In order to get rid of the anxiety generated by "negative freedom", a person seeks to get rid of this very freedom. He sees the only way out in flight from freedom, that is, flight from himself, in an effort to forget himself and thereby suppress the state of anxiety in himself.

Fromm believes that all these mechanisms, including “escape into oneself”, only cover up the feeling of anxiety, but do not completely relieve the individual of it. On the contrary, the feeling of isolation intensifies, because the loss of one's "I" is the most painful state. Mental mechanisms of escape from freedom are irrational, according to Fromm, they are not a reaction to environmental conditions, therefore they are not able to eliminate the causes of suffering and anxiety.

Thus, in understanding the nature of anxiety, different authors can trace two approaches: understanding anxiety as an inherent property of a person and understanding anxiety as a reaction to an external world hostile to a person, that is, removing anxiety from social conditions of life.

2 Features of anxiety in children of primary school age

Primary school age covers the period of life from 6 to 11 years and is determined by the most important circumstance in a child's life - his admission to school.

With the advent of school, the emotional sphere of the child changes. On the one hand, younger schoolchildren, especially first-graders, retain to a large extent the property characteristic of preschoolers to react violently to individual events and situations that affect them. Children are sensitive to the influences of the surrounding conditions of life, impressionable and emotionally responsive. They perceive, first of all, those objects or properties of objects that cause a direct emotional response, an emotional attitude. Visual, bright, lively is perceived best of all.

On the other hand, going to school gives rise to new, specific emotional experiences, as the freedom of preschool age is replaced by dependence and submission to the new rules of life. The situation of school life introduces the child into a strictly normalized world of relationships, requiring him to be organized, responsible, disciplined, and perform well. Toughening the living conditions, the new social situation in each child who enters school increases mental tension. This affects both the health of younger students and their behavior.

Entering school is such an event in the life of a child, in which two defining motives of his behavior necessarily come into conflict: the motive of desire (“I want”) and the motive of obligation (“I must”). If the motive of desire always comes from the child himself, then the motive of obligation is more often initiated by adults.

The inability of the child to meet the new norms and requirements of adults inevitably makes him doubt and worry. A child who enters school becomes extremely dependent on the opinions, assessments and attitudes of the people around him. Awareness of critical remarks addressed to him affects his well-being and leads to a change in self-esteem.

If before school some individual characteristics of the child could not interfere with his natural development, were accepted and taken into account by adults, then at school there is a standardization of living conditions, as a result of which emotional and behavioral deviations of personality traits become especially noticeable. First of all, hyperexcitability, hypersensitivity, poor self-control, misunderstanding of the norms and rules of adults reveal themselves.

The dependence of the younger student is growing more and more not only on the opinions of adults (parents and teachers), but also on the opinions of their peers. This leads to the fact that he begins to experience fears of a special kind: that he will be considered ridiculous, a coward, a deceiver, or weak-willed. As noted

A.I. Zakharov, if fears due to the instinct of self-preservation predominate in preschool age, then social fears prevail as a threat to the well-being of the individual in the context of his relations with other people in the younger school age.

Thus, the main points in the development of feelings at school age is that feelings become more and more conscious and motivated; there is an evolution of the content of feelings, due to both a change in the lifestyle and the nature of the student's activity; the form of manifestations of emotions and feelings, their expression in behavior, in the inner life of the student changes; the importance of the emerging system of feelings and experiences in the development of the student's personality increases. And it is at this age that anxiety begins to appear.

Persistent anxiety and intense constant fears of children are among the most frequent reasons for parents to turn to a psychologist. At the same time, in recent years, compared with the previous period, the number of such applications has increased significantly. Special experimental studies also testify to the increase in anxiety and fears in children. According to many years of research conducted both in our country and abroad, the number of anxious people - regardless of gender, age, regional and other characteristics - is usually close to 15%.

Changes in social relationships present significant difficulties for the child. Anxiety, emotional tension are mainly associated with the absence of people close to the child, with a change in the environment, familiar conditions and the rhythm of life.

Such a mental state of anxiety is usually defined as a generalized feeling of a non-specific, indefinite threat. The expectation of impending danger is combined with a sense of the unknown: the child, as a rule, is not able to explain what, in essence, he is afraid of.

Anxiety can be divided into 2 forms: personal and situational.

Personal anxiety is understood as a stable individual characteristic that reflects the subject's predisposition to anxiety and suggests that he has a tendency to perceive a fairly wide "fan" of situations as threatening, responding to each of them with a certain reaction. As a predisposition, personal anxiety is activated when certain stimuli are perceived by a person as dangerous to self-esteem, self-esteem.

Situational or reactive anxiety as a condition is characterized by subjectively experienced emotions: tension, anxiety, concern, nervousness. This state occurs as an emotional reaction to a stressful situation and can vary in intensity and dynamism over time.

Individuals classified as highly anxious tend to perceive a threat to their self-esteem and life in a wide range of situations and respond with a very pronounced state of anxiety.

Two large groups of signs of anxiety can be distinguished: the first is physiological signs that occur at the level of somatic symptoms and sensations; the second - the reactions occurring in the mental sphere.

Most often, somatic signs are manifested in an increase in the frequency of breathing and heartbeat, an increase in general arousal, and a decrease in sensitivity thresholds. They also include: a lump in the throat, a feeling of heaviness or pain in the head, a feeling of heat, weakness in the legs, trembling hands, pain in the abdomen, cold and wet palms, an unexpected and out of place desire to go to the toilet, a feeling of own awkwardness, sloppiness , clumsiness, itching and more. These sensations explain to us why the student, going to the blackboard, carefully rubs his nose, pulls the suit, why the chalk trembles in his hand and falls to the floor, why during the control someone runs the whole five into his hair, someone cannot clear his throat, and someone insistently asks to leave. Often this irritates adults, who sometimes see malicious intent even in such natural and innocent manifestations.

The psychological and behavioral responses to anxiety are even more varied, bizarre, and unexpected. Anxiety, as a rule, entails difficulty in making decisions, impaired coordination of movements. Sometimes the tension of anxious expectation is so great that a person involuntarily inflicts pain on himself. Hence unexpected blows, falls. Mild manifestations of anxiety as a feeling of anxiety, uncertainty about the correctness of one's behavior, are an integral part of the emotional life of any person. Children, as insufficiently prepared to overcome the anxious situations of the subject, often resort to lies, fantasies, become inattentive, absent-minded, shy.

Anxiety disorganizes not only learning activities, it begins to destroy personal structures. Of course, anxiety is not the only cause of behavioral disturbances. There are other mechanisms of deviation in the development of the child's personality. However, counseling psychologists argue that most of the problems that parents turn to them about, most of the obvious violations that impede the normal course of education and upbringing, are basically related to the child's anxiety.

Anxious children are distinguished by frequent manifestations of anxiety and anxiety, as well as a large number of fears, and fears and anxiety arise in those situations in which the child, it would seem, is not in danger. Anxious children are particularly sensitive, suspicious and impressionable. Also, children are often characterized by low self-esteem, in connection with which they have an expectation of trouble from others. This is typical for those children whose parents set unbearable tasks for them, demanding that the children are not able to perform. Anxious children are very sensitive to their failures, react sharply to them, tend to refuse the activity in which they experience difficulties. In such children, there can be a noticeable difference in behavior in the classroom and outside the classroom. Outside of classes, these are lively, sociable and direct children, in the classroom they are clamped and tense. Teachers answer questions in a low and deaf voice, they may even begin to stutter. Their speech can be either very fast, hasty, or slow, difficult. As a rule, motor excitation occurs: the child pulls clothes with his hands, manipulates something. Anxious children are prone to bad habits of a neurotic nature: they bite their nails, suck their fingers, pull out their hair. Manipulations with their own body reduce their emotional stress, calm them down.

The causes of childhood anxiety are improper upbringing and unfavorable relations between the child and his parents, especially his mother. So, rejection, rejection by the mother of the child causes him anxiety because of the impossibility of satisfying the need for love, affection and protection. In this case, fear arises: the child feels the conditionality of maternal love. The dissatisfaction of the need for love will encourage him to seek its satisfaction by any means.

Children's anxiety can also be a consequence of the symbiotic relationship between the child and the mother, when the mother feels herself one with the child, trying to protect him from the difficulties and troubles of life. As a result, the child experiences anxiety when left without a mother, is easily lost, worried and afraid. Instead of activity and independence, passivity and dependence develop.

In cases where upbringing is based on excessive demands that the child is unable to cope with or copes with difficulty, anxiety can be caused by the fear of not coping, of doing the wrong thing.

The child's anxiety can be generated by the fear of deviating from the norms and rules established by adults.

The anxiety of a child can also be caused by the peculiarities of the interaction between an adult and a child: the prevalence of an authoritarian style of communication or inconsistency in requirements and assessments. And in the first and second cases, the child is in constant tension because of the fear of not fulfilling the requirements of adults, not “pleasing” them, transgressing the strict limits. Speaking of rigid limits, we mean the restrictions set by the teacher.

These include: restrictions on spontaneous activity in games (in particular, in mobile games), in activities; limiting child inconsistency in class, such as cutting children off; interruption of the emotional manifestations of children. So, if in the process of activity the child has emotions, they must be thrown out, which can be prevented by an authoritarian teacher. The rigid limits set by an authoritarian teacher often imply a high pace of the lesson, which keeps the child in constant tension for a long time, and gives rise to the fear of not being able to do it or doing it wrong.

Anxiety arises in a situation of rivalry, competition. It will cause especially strong anxiety in children whose upbringing takes place in conditions of hypersocialization. In this case, children, getting into a situation of rivalry, will strive to be the first, to achieve the highest results at any cost.

Anxiety arises in a situation of increased responsibility. When an anxious child gets into it, his anxiety is due to the fear of not living up to the hopes, expectations of an adult, and whether to be rejected. In such situations, anxious children differ, as a rule, in an inadequate reaction. In the case of their foresight, expectation or frequent repetitions of the same situation that causes anxiety, the child develops a stereotype of behavior, a certain pattern that allows you to avoid anxiety or reduce it as much as possible. These patterns include systematic refusal to answer in class, refusal to participate in activities that cause anxiety, and the child's silence instead of answering questions from unfamiliar adults or those to whom the child has a negative attitude.

We can agree with the conclusion of A.M. Parishioners, that anxiety in childhood is a stable personality formation that persists for a fairly long period of time. It has its own motivating force and stable forms of implementation in behavior with a predominance in the last compensatory and protective manifestations. Like any complex psychological formation, anxiety is characterized by a complex structure, including cognitive, emotional and operational aspects. With the dominance of the emotional is a derivative of a wide range of family disorders.

Thus, anxious children of primary school age are characterized by frequent manifestations of anxiety and anxiety, as well as a large amount of fear, and fears and anxiety arise in those situations in which the child, as a rule, is not in danger. They are also especially sensitive, suspicious and impressionable. Such children are often characterized by low self-esteem, in connection with which they have an expectation of trouble from others. Anxious children are very sensitive to their failures, react sharply to them, tend to refuse such activities in which they experience difficulties. Increased anxiety prevents the child from communicating, interacting in the child-child system; the child is an adult, the formation of educational activities, in particular, the constant feeling of anxiety does not allow the formation of control and evaluation activities, and control and evaluation actions are one of the main components of educational activity. And also increased anxiety contributes to the blocking of the psychosomatic systems of the body, does not allow effective work in the classroom.

3 Factors of anxiety in children of primary school age

Increased school anxiety, which has a disorganizing effect on the child's learning activities, can be caused both by purely situational factors and supported by the child's individual characteristics (temperament, character, system of relationships with significant others outside the school).

The school educational environment is described by the following features:

· physical space, characterized by aesthetic features and determining the possibilities of spatial movements of the child;

· human factors associated with the characteristics of the system "student - teacher - administration - parents";

· training program.

The smallest "risk factor" for the formation of school anxiety, of course, is the first sign. The design of the school premises as a component of the educational environment is the least stressful factor, although some studies show that certain school premises can also become the cause of school anxiety in some cases.

The most typical occurrence of school anxiety associated with socio-psychological factors or the factor of educational programs. Based on the analysis of the literature and experience with school anxiety, we identified several factors whose influence contributes to its formation and consolidation. These include:

· training overload;

Educational overloads are caused by various aspects of the modern system of organization of the educational process.

First, they are related to the structure of the academic year. Studies show that after six weeks of active training in children (primarily younger schoolchildren and adolescents), the level of working capacity decreases sharply and the level of anxiety increases. Restoring the optimal state for learning activities requires at least a week break. This rule, as practice shows, does not satisfy at least three academic quarters out of four. Only in recent years, and only first-graders, have the privilege of an extra vacation in the middle of an exhausting and long third quarter. And for the rest of the parallels, the shortest quarter - the second - lasts, as a rule, seven weeks.

Secondly, overloads can be caused by the child's workload with school affairs during the school week. The days with optimal educational performance are Tuesday and Wednesday, then, starting from Thursday, the effectiveness of educational activity decreases sharply. For proper rest and recuperation, the child needs at least one full day off per week, when he may not return to doing homework and other school chores. It has been established that students who receive homework for the weekend are characterized by a higher level of anxiety than their peers, "having the opportunity to fully devote Sunday to rest."

And, finally, thirdly, the duration of the lesson now accepted makes its contribution to the overload of students. Observations of the behavior of children during the lesson show that in the first 30 minutes of the lesson the child is distracted by more than three times less than in the last 15. Nearly half of all distractions occur in the last 10 minutes of a lesson. At the same time, the level of school anxiety also increases relatively.

A student's inability to cope with the school curriculum can be caused by a variety of reasons:

· an increased level of complexity of curricula that do not correspond to the level of development of children, which is especially characteristic of “prestigious schools” so beloved by parents, where, according to research, children are much more anxious than in ordinary secondary schools, while the more complex the program, the more pronounced the disorganizing the impact of anxiety;

· an insufficient level of development of higher mental functions of students, pedagogical neglect, insufficient professional competence of a teacher who does not have the skills to present material or pedagogical communication;

· psychological syndrome of chronic failure, which, as a rule, develops at primary school age; the main feature of the psychological profile of such a child is high anxiety caused by discrepancies between the expectations of adults and the achievements of the child.

School anxiety is related to academic performance. The most "anxious" children are losers and excellent students. The "average" in terms of academic performance are characterized by greater emotional stability compared to those who are focused on getting only "five" or do not particularly count on a mark above the "three".

Inadequate expectations on the part of parents are a typical reason that gives rise to an intrapersonal conflict in a child, which, in turn, leads to the formation and consolidation of anxiety in general. In terms of school anxiety, these are, first of all, expectations regarding school performance. The more parents are focused on achieving high educational results by the child, the more pronounced the child's anxiety. Interestingly, the educational success of the child for parents in the vast majority of cases is expressed in the grades they receive and are measured by them. It is known that now the objectivity of assessing students' knowledge is questioned even by pedagogy itself. Evaluation is largely the result of the teacher's attitude towards the child whose knowledge is currently being assessed. Therefore, in the case when a student actually achieves some learning outcomes, but the teacher stereotypically continues to give him “twos” (or “threes”, or “fours”) without raising his grades, parents often do not provide him with emotional support, because they simply have no idea of his real success. Thus, the child's motivation associated with achievements in educational activities is not reinforced, and may disappear over time.

Unfavorable relationships with teachers as a factor in the formation of school anxiety are multilayered.

First, anxiety can be generated by the style of interaction with students that the teacher adheres to. Even without taking into account such obvious cases as the use of physical violence by the teacher, insulting children, one can single out the features of the style of pedagogical interaction that contribute to the formation of school anxiety. The highest level of school anxiety is demonstrated by children from classes of teachers who profess the so-called "reasoning-methodical" style of pedagogical activity. This style is characterized by the teacher's equally high demands on "strong" and "weak" students, intolerance of discipline violations, a tendency to move from discussing specific mistakes to assessing the student's personality with high methodological literacy. Under such conditions, students do not tend to go to the blackboard, they are afraid to make a mistake when answering verbally, etc.

Secondly, excessive demands made by the teacher to students can contribute to the formation of anxiety; these requirements often do not correspond to the age capabilities of children. Interestingly, teachers often consider school anxiety as a positive characteristic of the child, which indicates his responsibility, diligence, interest in learning, and specifically try to escalate emotional tension in the learning process, which, in fact, gives the opposite effect.

Thirdly, anxiety can be caused by the teacher's selective attitude towards a particular child, primarily associated with the child's systematic violation of the rules of conduct in the classroom. Considering that indiscipline in the overwhelming majority of cases is precisely the consequence of already formed school anxiety, constant “negative attention” from the teacher will contribute to its fixation and strengthening, thereby reinforcing the child’s undesirable forms of behavior.

Regularly repeated evaluation and examination situations have a strong influence on the emotional state of the student, since the test of intelligence is generally one of the most psychologically uncomfortable situations, especially if this test is somehow connected with the social status of the individual. Considerations of prestige, the desire for respect and authority in the eyes of classmates, parents, teachers, the desire to get a good grade that justifies the efforts expended on preparation, ultimately determine the emotionally intense nature of the assessment situation, which is reinforced by the fact that anxiety is often accompanied by a search for social approval .

For some students, any response in class can be a stressor, including the most common response, "on the spot." As a rule, this is due to increased shyness of the child, lack of necessary communication skills, or with hypertrophied motivation "to be good", "to be smart", "to be the best", "get an" five "", indicating the conflict of self-esteem and already formed school anxiety.

However, most children experience anxiety during more serious "checks" - on tests or exams. The main reason for this anxiety is the uncertainty of ideas about the result of future activities.

The negative impact of the situation of knowledge testing primarily affects those students for whom anxiety is a stable personality trait. It is easier for these children to take control, examination and test papers in writing, since in this way two potentially stressful components are excluded from the assessment situation - the component of interaction with the teacher and the component of the “publicity” of the answer. This is understandable: the higher the anxiety, the more difficult the situations that potentially threaten self-esteem are, the more likely the disorganizing effect of anxiety is.

However, "examination-evaluative" anxiety also occurs in those children who do not have disturbing personality traits. In this case, it is determined by purely situational factors, however, being quite intense, it also disorganizes the student's activity, not allowing him to reveal himself on the exam from the best side, making it difficult to present even well-learned material.

The change of the school team is in itself a powerful stress factor, since it implies the need to establish new relationships with unfamiliar peers, and the result of subjective efforts is not defined, since it mainly depends on other people (those students who make up the new class). Consequently, the transition from school to school (less often - from class to class) provokes the formation of anxiety (primarily interpersonal). Good relationships with classmates are the most important resource for motivating school attendance. Refusal to attend school is often accompanied by statements like “and there are fools in my class”, “it’s boring with them”, etc. A similar effect is caused by the rejection of the “old man” by the children’s team, which, as a rule, classmates associate with his “abnormality” : interferes with the lessons, is daring to his beloved teachers, talks to people, does not communicate with anyone, considers himself better than others.

Thus, the feeling of anxiety at school age is inevitable. A student is exposed to various anxiety factors every day. Therefore, optimal learning at school is possible only under the condition of a more or less systematic experience of anxiety about the events of school life. However, the intensity of this experience should not exceed the "critical point" individual for each child, after which it begins to have a disorganizing, rather than a mobilizing effect.

Conclusions on the first chapter: A number of foreign and domestic researchers worked on the problem of anxiety. In the psychological literature, one can find different definitions of the concept of anxiety. An analysis of the main works shows that in understanding the nature of anxiety, two approaches can be traced - understanding anxiety as an inherent property of a person, and understanding anxiety as a reaction to an external world hostile to a person, that is, removing anxiety from social conditions of life.

There are two main types of anxiety. The first of these is situational anxiety, that is, generated by some specific situation that objectively causes anxiety. Another type is personal anxiety. A child subject to this condition is constantly in a wary and depressed mood, he has difficulty in contacting the outside world, which he perceives as frightening and hostile. Being fixed in the process of character formation, personal anxiety leads to the formation of low self-esteem and gloomy pessimism.

Anxious children of primary school age are characterized by frequent manifestations of anxiety and anxiety, as well as a large amount of fear, and fears and anxiety arise in those situations in which the child, as a rule, is not in danger. They are also especially sensitive, suspicious and impressionable. Anxious children are very sensitive to their failures, react sharply to them, tend to refuse such activities in which they experience difficulties. Increased anxiety prevents the child from communicating, interacting in the child-child, child-adult system. And also increased anxiety contributes to the blocking of the psychosomatic systems of the body, does not allow effective work in the classroom.

Based on the analysis of the literature and experience with school anxiety, we identified several factors whose influence contributes to its formation and consolidation. These include:

· training overload;

· student's inability to cope with the school curriculum;

· inadequate expectations from parents;

· unfavorable relationships with teachers;

· regularly repeated evaluation and examination situations;

· change of the school team and / or rejection by the children's team.

Anxiety as a certain emotional mood with a predominance of feelings of anxiety and fear of doing something wrong, not meeting generally accepted requirements and norms develops closer to 7, and especially to 8 years with a large number of insoluble and coming from an earlier age of fears . The main source of anxiety for younger students is school and family.

However, in children of primary school age, anxiety is not yet a stable character trait and is relatively reversible when appropriate psychological and pedagogical measures are taken. You can significantly reduce the anxiety of the child if the teachers and parents raising him will follow the necessary recommendations.

Chapter II. Experimental study of anxiety factors in children of primary school age

1 Description of research methods

anxiety junior school mental

Currently, a variety of methodological approaches are used to diagnose school anxiety, among which, first of all, should be called the observation of the behavior of students at school, expert surveys of parents of students and teachers, questionnaire tests and projective tests. In particular, the following methods are used to diagnose the level of anxiety of younger students:

· Methodology for diagnosing the level of school anxiety Phillips;

· Overt Anxiety Scale for Children CMAS (The Children s Form of Manifest Anxiety Scale);

· A projective technique for diagnosing school anxiety, developed by A.M. parishioners;

· Personal scale of manifestations of anxiety, adapted by T.A. Nemchin;

· Method of unfinished sentences;

· Color-associative technique A.M. Parachev.

To test the formulated hypothesis, we conducted a study on the basis of the 4 "A" class, school No. 59 in Cheboksary. The experiment involved 25 children 9 - 10 years old. Among them: 15 girls and 10 boys.

Hypothesis: a high level of anxiety in children of primary school age is associated with a status position in the classroom.

Purpose: to study the influence of social status in the classroom on anxiety in children of primary school age.

Select methodological material to identify the social status occupied in the classroom and anxiety in children of primary school age;

Conduct research using selected methods;

Analyze the results.

To determine the level of anxiety in children of primary school age, the following were used:

· Phillips School Anxiety Test;

· Sociometric method.

Phillips School Anxiety Test.

The purpose of the methodology (questionnaire) is to study the level and nature of anxiety associated with school in children of primary and secondary school age.

Questions asked to the child are given in Appendix No. 1.

1.General anxiety at school - the general emotional state of the child associated with various forms of his inclusion in the life of the school;

2.Experiences of social stress - the emotional state of the child, against which his social contacts develop (primarily with peers);

.Frustration of the need to achieve success is an unfavorable mental background that does not allow the child to develop his needs for success, achieving a high result;

.Fear of self-expression - negative emotional experiences of situations associated with the need for self-disclosure, presenting oneself to others, demonstrating one's capabilities;

.Fear of a situation of knowledge testing - a negative attitude and anxiety in situations of testing (especially public) knowledge, achievements, opportunities;

.Fear of not meeting the expectations of others - focusing on the significance of others in assessing their results, actions, and thoughts, anxiety about the assessments given to others, the expectation of negative assessments:

.Low physiological resistance to stress - features of the psychophysiological organization that reduce the child's adaptability to situations of a stressful nature, increase the likelihood of an inadequate, destructive response to an alarming environmental factor;

.Problems and fears in relations with teachers are a general negative emotional background of relations with adults at school, which reduces the success of a child's education.

When processing the results, questions are selected, the answers to which do not match the test key. For example, the child answered “yes” to the 58th question, while in the key this question corresponds to “-”, that is, the answer is “no”. Answers that do not match the key are manifestations of anxiety. Processing counts:

The total number of mismatches for the entire test. If it is more than 50% of the total number of questions, we can talk about increased anxiety of the child, if more than 75% - about high anxiety.

The number of matches for each of the 8 types of anxiety. The level of anxiety is determined in the same way as in the first case. The general internal emotional state of the student is analyzed, which is largely determined by the presence of certain anxiety syndromes (factors) and their number.

Sociometric method.

The method of sociometric measurements is used to diagnose interpersonal and intergroup relations in order to change, improve and improve them. With the help of sociometry, it is possible to study the typology of people's social behavior in the conditions of group activity, to judge the socio-psychological compatibility of members of specific groups.

The method of sociometric measurements allows you to obtain information:

· About socio-psychological relations in the group;

· About the status of people in the group;

· About psychological compatibility and cohesion in the group.

In general terms, the task of sociometry is to study the informal structural aspect of a social group and the psychological atmosphere that reigns in it.

The processing of the results of the sociometric study of the children's group is carried out as follows: the choices of children are recorded in the prepared sociometric table (matrix). Then the selections received by each child are counted and the mutual selections are counted and recorded.

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Anxiety in children, being an individual psychological feature, is expressed in a tendency to excitement in a variety of situations. Children need to differentiate anxiety from anxiety. By itself, anxiety almost always manifests itself without significant reasons and does not depend on a particular situation. Anxiety is inherent in a child's personality in any kind of activity.

Anxiety is classified as an episodic manifestation of excitement and anxiety, and anxiety is a stable condition. For example, it happens that a child is worried when answering at the blackboard or before speaking at a holiday, but this anxiety is not always expressed, and sometimes in such situations he remains calm. This is a manifestation of anxiety. If the state of anxiety is repeated constantly in various situations (while answering at the blackboard, communicating with strangers), then this indicates the presence of anxiety.

When a baby is afraid of something specific, they talk about manifestation. For example, the fear of the dark.

Causes of anxiety in children

Anxiety in children is caused by the following reasons:

violations in the relationship between babies and adults;

improper upbringing of kids (parents often want and demand from the child what he cannot do: good grades, ideal behavior, leadership among children, winning competitions).

Exaggerated demands of parents to the offspring are often associated with personal dissatisfaction, as well as the desire to embody their own dreams in their child. Sometimes excessive demands are also associated with other reasons, for example, one of the parents is a leader in life and has achieved material well-being or a high position, and does not want to see a “loser” in his child, making excessive demands on him.

Often, parents themselves have increased anxiety and, by their behavior, set the baby up for anxiety. Often, parents, trying to protect their child from imaginary or all real threats, form in him a feeling of defenselessness and inferiority. All this does not affect the normal development of the baby and prevents him from fully opening up, causing anxiety and fear even in simple communication with adults and peers.

Anxiety in preschool children

It would seem, why should the kids worry? They have friends in the garden and in the yard, as well as loving parents.

Children's anxiety is a signal that something is going wrong in the life of a baby, and no matter how adults console themselves and justify this condition, this condition cannot be left unattended. Moreover, it does not matter at all to a daughter or son, since at preschool age anxiety can occur regardless of the gender of the baby.

The American psychologist K. Izard gives the following explanation of the terms "fear" and "anxiety": anxiety is a combination of some emotions, and one of the emotions is fear.

Able to develop in any age interval: for example, babies from 1 to 3 years old often have night terrors, most often in the 2nd year of life, fears of unexpected sounds, as well as fear of loneliness and fear of pain associated with fear medical workers.

From 3 to 5 years old, children notice massive fears of darkness, loneliness, and confined space. The fear of death becomes the main, usually, experience at 5-7 years.

How to relieve anxiety in a child? This question interests many concerned parents.

Removing anxiety in children - advice from a psychologist:

you need to get a pet: a hamster, a kitten, a puppy and entrust it to the child, but you should help the baby in caring for the pet. Joint care of the animal will help to create a trusting and partnership relationship between the baby and parents, which will help reduce the level of anxiety;

relaxing breathing exercises to relieve anxiety will be useful;

if, nevertheless, anxiety is stable and persists for no apparent reason, then you should seek help from a child psychologist to relieve this condition, since even minor child anxiety can later cause serious mental illness.

Anxiety in primary school children

The age from 7 to 11 is filled with fear of not living up to expectations of being a good child and being left without respect, understanding of adults. Each baby has certain fears, but if there are a lot of them, then they talk about manifestations of anxiety.

At the moment, there is no single point of view regarding the causes of the development of anxiety, but most scientists attribute the violation of parent-child relationships to one of the causes. Other researchers of this problem attribute the occurrence of anxiety to the presence of an internal conflict in a child, which is caused by:

conflicting demands made by adults, for example, parents do not let their child go to school because of poor health, and the teacher reprimands for the pass and puts a "deuce" in the journal in the presence of other peers;

inadequate requirements, often overestimated, for example, adults constantly tell their offspring that he should bring “five” and be an excellent student and cannot come to terms with the fact that he is not the best student in the class;

negative demands that humiliate the child's personality and put it in a dependent position, for example, the teacher says: "If you tell me which of the children behaved badly in my absence, then I will not tell my mother that you had a fight."

Psychologists believe that boys are the most anxious in preschool and primary school age, and girls become anxious after 12 years.

At the same time, girls are more worried about relationships with other people, while boys are more concerned about punishment and violence.

Girls, having done an “unseemly” act, are worried that the teacher or mother will think badly of them, and their girlfriends will stop playing with them. In the same situation, boys are more likely to be afraid that their adults will punish or beat them.

Anxiety in children of primary school age usually manifests itself 6 weeks after the start of the school year, so schoolchildren need 7-10 days of rest.

The anxiety of children of primary school age depends largely on the level of anxiety of adults. High anxiety of the parent or teacher is transmitted to the child. In families where friendly relations reign, children are less anxious than in those families where conflicts often arise.

Psychologists have discovered an interesting fact that after the divorce of parents, the level of anxiety in a child does not decrease, but increases.

Psychologists have found that children's anxiety increases if adults are not satisfied with their financial situation, their work, and living conditions. It is not ruled out that in our time it is for this reason that the number of disturbing children's personalities is growing.

Psychologists believe that learning anxiety is formed already in preschool age. Often this is facilitated by the authoritarian style of work of the educator, excessive demands, constant comparisons with other kids.

Often, in the presence of a future student, some families throughout the year talk about choosing a “promising” teacher and a “worthy” school. Often such concern of parents is transferred to offspring.

In addition, adults hire teachers for the baby, who spend hours doing tasks with them. How does the baby react to this?

The child’s body, which is not yet ready and not strong enough for intensive training, can not stand it and starts to get sick, and the desire to learn disappears and anxiety about the upcoming training increases rapidly.

Children's anxiety can be associated with mental disorders, as well as with neurosis. In these cases, the help of medical specialists is indispensable.

Diagnosis of anxiety in children

Anxious children are distinguished by excessive anxiety, often they are afraid not of the event, but of the very premonition of the event. Toddlers tend to feel helpless, they are afraid to play new games, start unfamiliar activities.

Restless kids have high demands, they are very self-critical. Their level is low, they think that they are worse than others in everything, that they are stupid, ugly, clumsy. Approvals and encouragement by adults in all matters will help relieve anxiety in such babies.

Anxious babies are also characterized by somatic problems: dizziness, abdominal pain, throat cramps, shortness of breath, headaches. During the onset of anxiety, children often experience a lump in the throat, dry mouth, weakness in the legs, and a rapid heartbeat.

An experienced educator, psychologist, teacher can identify an anxious person by observing the child on different days of the week, as well as during free activities and training, in communication with other peers.

The portrait of an anxious child includes the following signs in behavior:

intense peering into everything that is around;

timid, silent behavior, awkward sitting on the edge of the nearest chair.

It is more difficult for a psychologist to work with anxious personalities than with other categories of “problem” children, since this category keeps its problems to itself.

To understand the baby, as well as to find out what exactly he is afraid of, it is necessary for parents, educators, teachers to fill out a questionnaire form. The situation regarding disturbing children's personalities will be clarified by the answers of adults, and observations of the behavior of the baby will refute or confirm the assumption.

There are the following criteria for determining increased anxiety:

muscle tension;

constant anxiety;

sleep disorders;

the impossibility and difficulty of concentrating on something;

irritability.

The baby is classified as anxious if there is always one of the listed signs.

Anxiety test for children

Lavrentyeva G.P., Titarenko T.M., proposed the following questionnaire to identify a child's anxious personality

So, the signs of anxiety:

1. The kid is not able to work for a long time, gets tired quickly

2. Difficulty focusing on specific things

3. Anxiety causes any task

4. During the execution of tasks, the child is constrained and tense.

5. Often embarrassed

6. Says he's stressed

7. Blushing in a new environment

8. Complains about nightmares

9. Hands are often damp and cold

10. Often there is a disorder of the stool

11. Sweats when excited

12. Has a poor appetite

13. Sleeps restlessly and falls asleep for a long time

14. Shy, afraid of everything

15. Easily upset, restless

16. Often does not hold back tears

17. Can't stand waiting

18. New business is not encouraging

19. Always not confident in his abilities and himself

20. Afraid of difficulties

The processing of test data is carried out as follows: for each affirmative answer, a plus is added, and to get a total score, the number of “pluses” is summed up.

A high level of anxiety is indicated by the presence of 15 to 20 points.

The average level of anxiety is indicated by the presence of scores from 7 to 14.

A low level of anxiety is indicated by the presence of scores from 1 to 6. In a preschool institution, children often have a fear of separation from their parents. It should be remembered that at the age of two or three years this trait is acceptable and understandable, however, if a baby in the preparatory group often cries when parting, without taking his eyes off the window and waiting every second for his parents, then special attention must be paid to this.

The following criteria determine the presence of separation anxiety, which were presented by P. Baker and M. Alvord.

Criteria for identifying separation anxiety:

1. Sadness at parting, recurrent severe disorder

2. Worry about what might be bad for an adult

3. Constant worry about separation from family

4. Persistent refusal to go to preschool

5. Fear of being and being alone

6. Irresistible fear of falling asleep alone

7. Nightmares in which the baby is separated from his family

8. Complaints of malaise: abdominal pain, headache

Often, babies suffering from separation anxiety actually become ill if they constantly think about disturbing moments.

If three traits have been shown for four weeks, then it is assumed that the crumbs really have this kind of anxiety and fear.

Prevention and correction of anxiety in children

Most parents themselves do not notice that anxious children have become so due to their own inappropriate behavior. Having learned about the appearance of fears, parents either persuade the baby to calm down, or make fun of his problem. Such incorrect behavior will only contribute to increased fears and anxiety, and all shouting, remarks, pulling will cause not only anxiety, but also aggression in the baby. For this reason, it is necessary to reduce the number of comments addressed to the baby and only talk calmly with him. You can’t threaten, you should learn to negotiate before expressing your dissatisfaction and considering every word intended for the offspring.

If an adult dreams of a child growing up as a balanced and healthy person, then in the family, first of all, there should be only a favorable psychological climate that contributes to the harmonious development of the individual. At the same time, if the baby trusts adults and talks about his experiences, then the level of anxiety will automatically decrease.

Prevention of anxiety in children includes a discussion of all the problems of the baby, communication with him, the implementation of all joint holidays, walks, outdoor recreation. Only a relaxed atmosphere will bring adults and kids together, which will make you feel free.

Working with an anxious child is fraught with difficulties of a certain plan and, as a rule, takes a long time.

teaching the child to manage himself in situations of concern to him;

relieving muscle tension.

Improving self-esteem involves doing daily focused work. The child must be addressed by name, praised even for minor successes, noted in the presence of other peers. Praise must be sincere and the child must know why he was praised.

Learning to manage one's behavior involves discussing the problem together. In kindergarten, this can be done by sitting in a circle, talking with children about experiences and feelings in exciting situations. And at school, using examples of literary works, it is necessary to show children that a brave person is considered not the one who is not afraid of anything, but the one who knows how to overcome his fear. It is advisable that all children say out loud what they are afraid of. Children should be invited to draw their fears, and then talk about them. These kinds of conversations help to realize that most peers also have problems similar to those that are not unique to them.

Methods for correcting anxiety in children include avoiding comparisons with other children, for example, academic success, sports achievements. The best option would be to compare the child's achievements with his personal results achieved, for example, a week ago.

If anxiety occurs in a child when performing educational tasks, then it is not recommended to carry out work at speed. Such children must be interviewed in the middle of the lesson, you can not rush or adjust.

You should first communicate with an anxious child by making eye contact with him or by leaning towards him, or by raising the child to the level of an adult's eyes.

Correction of anxiety in children includes writing stories and fairy tales together with an adult. Even if the child attributes anxiety not to himself, but to his hero, this can allow you to remove the inner experience and calm the baby.

In everyday work with an anxious child, it is useful to use role-playing games. For the plot, you can use the familiar situations “I'm afraid of the teacher”, “I'm afraid of the teacher”.

Removing muscle tension can be done using games based on the exchange of touch. Relaxation exercises, yoga, deep breathing techniques, massage will be useful.

It is possible to relieve excessive anxiety in a child by arranging an impromptu show or a masquerade for him. For this, old adult clothes and manufactured masks are suitable. Participating in an impromptu performance for anxious children can help them relax.

Primary school age is the age from the time you enter school to the end of elementary school.

The entry of a child into school means for him a transition to a new way of life, a new leading activity; this decisively affects the formation of the whole personality of the child. Teaching becomes the leading activity. The child has new relationships with the people around him, new responsibilities appear. The child takes his place in society. Along with new responsibilities, the student receives new rights.

The position of a schoolchild obliges him to more responsible activities, instills a sense of duty and responsibility, the ability to act consciously and in an organized manner, develops his strong-willed personality traits. The high ideological and scientific level of acquired knowledge at school allows children to achieve the intellectual development possible at this age, forms in them a full-fledged cognitive attitude to reality.

The admission of a child to school becomes the reason for increasing his responsibility, changing his social status, self-image, which, according to A.M. Parishioners, in some cases leads to an increase in the level of anxiety 34.

So K. Horney notes that the emergence and consolidation of anxiety are associated with the dissatisfaction of the leading age-related needs of the child, which become hypertrophied 44, p.137.

The change in social relations due to school entry presents significant difficulties for the child and can cause the development of anxiety,

I.V. Molochkova notes that school anxiety is a relatively mild form of manifestation of a child's emotional distress. School anxiety is characterized by excitement, increased anxiety in educational situations, in the classroom, the expectation of a bad attitude towards oneself, a negative assessment from teachers and peers. Younger students with increased school anxiety feel their own inadequacy, inferiority, they are not sure about the correctness of their behavior, their decisions. Teachers and parents usually note such features of high-anxiety schoolchildren: they are “afraid of everything”, “very vulnerable”, “suspicious”, “highly sensitive”, “take everything too seriously”, etc. 29, p.52.

Anxiety colors the attitude towards oneself, other people and reality in gloomy tones. Such a student is not only unsure of himself, but also distrustful of everyone and everyone. For himself, an anxious child does not expect anything good, others are perceived by him as threatening, conflicting, unable to provide support. And all this with a heightened and sick sense of dignity. Now the child refracts everything through the prism of anxiety, suspiciousness.

At primary school age, the development of children is influenced by the relationship with the teacher. A teacher for children has authority sometimes even more than parents. Anxiety in a younger student can be caused by the peculiarities of the interaction between the teacher and the child, the prevalence of an authoritarian style of communication, or the inconsistency of requirements and assessments. In both the first and second cases, the child is in constant tension because of the fear of not fulfilling the demands of adults, of not “pleasing” them, of starting a strict framework.

Speaking of rigid limits, we mean the limits set by the teacher. These include restrictions on spontaneous activity in games (in particular, in mobile games) in activities, on walks, etc.; limiting children's spontaneity in the classroom, for example, tearing children away; suppression of children's initiative. Interruption of emotional manifestations of children can also be attributed to limitations.

Authoritarian educators set rigid limits, the pace of the lesson and the demands they have are excessively high. Learning from such teachers, children are in constant tension for a long time, they are afraid not to be in time or to do something wrong8. The disciplinary measures applied by such a teacher also contribute to the formation of anxiety, they blame, shout, scold, punish.

An inconsistent teacher causes anxiety in the child by not giving him the opportunity to predict his own behavior. The constant variability of the requirements of the educator, the dependence of his behavior on mood, emotional lability entail confusion in the child, the inability to decide what he should do in this or that case.

School fears not only deprive the child of psychological comfort, the joy of learning, but also contribute to the development of childhood neuroses.

Among the causes of childhood anxiety, according to E. Savina, the most significant are the improper upbringing and unfavorable relations of the child with parents, especially with the mother. So rejection, rejection by the mother of the child causes him anxiety because of the impossibility of satisfying the need for love, affection and protection. In this case, fear arises: the child feels the conditionality of material love

Anxiety in younger students may be due to a symbiotic relationship with the mother, when the mother feels like one with the child, trying to protect him from the difficulties and troubles of life. It "binds" to itself, protecting from imaginary, non-existent dangers. As a result, being left without a mother, a younger student feels anxiety, fear, worries, and anxiety. Anxiety prevents the development of activity and independence, passivity and dependence develop.

The formation of anxiety in a child is facilitated by excessive demands from adults, with which the child is unable to cope or copes with difficulty. The child is afraid not to cope with duties, to do something wrong.

Anxiety and fear are typical for children who are brought up in a family where parents cultivate the “correctness” of behavior: tight control, a strict system of norms and rules, deviation from which entails censure and punishment. In such families, anxiety is a consequence of fear of deviation from the norms and rules established by adults 37, p.13

Conducted by B.M. parishioners 34 study allows us to present the following scheme of the origin and consolidation of anxiety at different age stages. At primary school age, this is a situation in the family, relationships with close adults provoke the child to experience constant psychological microtraumas and give rise to a state of affective tension and anxiety that are reactive in nature. The child constantly feels insecure, lack of support in a close environment and therefore helplessness. Such children are vulnerable, react sharply to the attitude of others around them. All this, as well as the fact that they remember predominantly negative events, leads to the accumulation of negative emotional experience, which constantly increases according to the law of a “vicious psychological circle” and finds its expression in a relatively stable experience of anxiety 34.

It is noted that the intensity of anxiety experience, the level of anxiety in boys and girls are different. At primary school age, boys are more anxious than girls (V.G. Belov, R.G. Korotenkova, M.A. Guryeva, A.V. Pavlovskaya). This is due to the situations with which they associate their anxiety, how they explain it, what they fear. And the older the children, the more noticeable this difference. Girls are more likely to associate their anxiety with other people. The people with whom girls can associate their anxiety include not only friends, relatives, teachers. Girls are afraid of the so-called "dangerous people" - drunkards, hooligans, etc. Boys, on the other hand, are afraid of physical injury, accidents, as well as punishments that can be expected from parents or outside the family: teachers, school principals, etc. .

However, in children of primary school age, anxiety is not yet a stable character trait and is relatively reversible when appropriate psychological and pedagogical measures are taken, and a child’s anxiety can be significantly reduced if the teachers and parents raising him follow the necessary recommendations.

Thus, the anxiety of younger schoolchildren is a consequence of the frustration of the need for reliability, protection from the immediate environment and reflects the dissatisfaction of this particular need. During these periods, anxiety is not yet a personal formation itself, it is a function of unfavorable relationships with close adults. Anxiety among younger students is often associated with educational activities, children are afraid to make a mistake, get a bad mark, they are afraid of conflicts with their peers.

Primary school age covers the period of life from 6 to 11 years and is determined by the most important circumstance in a child's life - his admission to school.

Anxiety can be divided into 2 forms: personal and situational.

Individuals classified as highly anxious tend to perceive a threat to their self-esteem and life in a wide range of situations and respond with a very pronounced state of anxiety.

In cases where upbringing is based on excessive demands that the child is unable to cope with or copes with difficulty, anxiety can be caused by the fear of not coping, of doing the wrong thing.

The child's anxiety can be generated by the fear of deviating from the norms and rules established by adults.

Emotions play an important role in children's lives: they help to perceive reality and respond to it. Manifested in behavior, they inform the adult that the child likes, angers or upsets him. This is especially true in infancy when verbal communication is not available. As the child grows, his emotional world becomes richer and more diverse. From the basic ones (fear, joy, etc.), he moves on to a more complex range of feelings: happy and angry, delighted and surprised, jealous and sad. The outward manifestation of emotions also changes. This is no longer a baby who cries both from fear and from hunger.

At primary school age, the child learns the language of feelings - the forms of expression of the finest shades of experiences accepted in society with the help of glances, smiles, gestures, postures, movements, voice intonations, etc.

On the other hand, the child masters the ability to restrain violent and harsh expressions of feelings. An eight-year-old child, unlike a two-year-old, may no longer show fear or tears. He learns not only to a large extent to control the expression of his feelings, to clothe them in a culturally accepted form, but also to consciously use them, informing others about his experiences, influencing them.

But younger students are still spontaneous and impulsive. The emotions that they experience are easily read on the face, in the posture, gesture, in all behavior. For a practical psychologist, the behavior of a child, the expression of his feelings is an important indicator in understanding the inner world of a small person, indicating his mental state, well-being, and possible development prospects. Information about the degree of emotional well-being of the child gives the psychologist an emotional background. The emotional background can be positive or negative.

The negative background of the child is characterized by depression, bad mood, confusion. The child almost does not smile or does it ingratiatingly, the head and shoulders are lowered, the facial expression is sad or indifferent. In such cases, there are problems in communication and establishing contact. The child often cries, is easily offended, sometimes for no apparent reason. He spends a lot of time alone, not interested in anything. During the examination, such a child is depressed, not proactive, hardly comes into contact.

One of the reasons for such an emotional state of the child may be the manifestation of an increased level of anxiety.

Anxiety in psychology is understood as a person's tendency to experience anxiety, i.e. an emotional state that occurs in situations of uncertain danger and manifests itself in anticipation of an unfavorable development of events. Anxious people live, feeling constant unreasonable fear. They often ask themselves the question: “What if something happens?” Increased anxiety can disorganize any activity (especially significant), which, in turn, leads to low self-esteem, self-doubt (“I couldn’t do anything!”). Thus, this emotional state can act as one of the mechanisms for the development of neurosis, as it contributes to the deepening of personal contradictions (for example, between a high level of claims and low self-esteem).

Everything that is characteristic of anxious adults can be attributed to anxious children. Usually these are very insecure children, with unstable self-esteem. Their constant feeling of fear of the unknown leads to the fact that they rarely take the initiative. Being obedient, they prefer not to attract the attention of others, they behave approximately both at home and in kindergarten, they try to strictly fulfill the requirements of parents and teachers - they do not violate discipline. Such children are called modest, shy. However, their exemplification, accuracy, discipline are protective - the child does everything to avoid failure.

What is the etiology of anxiety? It is known that a prerequisite for the occurrence of anxiety is increased sensitivity (sensitivity). However, not every child with hypersensitivity becomes anxious. Much depends on the way parents communicate with the child. Sometimes they can contribute to the development of an anxious personality. For example, there is a high probability of raising an anxious child by parents who bring up the type of hyperprotection (excessive care, petty control, a large number of restrictions and prohibitions, constant pulling).

In this case, the communication of an adult with a child is authoritarian in nature, the child loses confidence in himself and in his own abilities, he is constantly afraid of a negative assessment, begins to worry that he is doing something wrong, i.e. experiences a feeling of anxiety, which can be fixed and develop into a stable personality formation - anxiety.

Education by the type of overprotection can be combined with symbiotic, i.e. the extremely close relationship of the child with one of the parents, usually the mother. In this case, the communication of an adult with a child can be both authoritarian and democratic (an adult does not dictate his requirements to the child, but consults with him, is interested in his opinion). Parents with certain characterological features tend to establish such relationships with the child - anxious, suspicious, unsure of themselves. Having established close emotional contact with the child, such a parent infects his son or daughter with his fears, i.e. contributes to anxiety.

For example, there is a relationship between the number of fears in children and parents, especially mothers. In most cases, the fears experienced by children were inherent in mothers in childhood or are manifesting now. A mother in a state of anxiety involuntarily tries to protect the child's psyche from events that in one way or another remind her of her fears. Also, the mother's concern for the child, which consists of premonitions, fears and anxieties, serves as a channel for transmitting anxiety.

Factors such as excessive demands on the part of parents and caregivers can contribute to an increase in anxiety in a child, as they cause a situation of chronic failure. Faced with constant discrepancies between their real capabilities and the high level of achievement that adults expect from him, the child experiences anxiety, which easily develops into anxiety. Another factor contributing to the formation of anxiety is frequent reproaches that cause feelings of guilt (“You behaved so badly that your mother had a headache”, “Because of your behavior, my mother and I often quarrel”). In this case, the child is constantly afraid of being guilty before the parents. Often the cause of a large number of fears in children is the restraint of parents in expressing feelings in the presence of numerous warnings, dangers and anxieties. Excessive severity of parents also contributes to the emergence of fears. However, this happens only in relation to parents of the same sex as the child, i.e., the more the mother forbids the daughter or the father for the son, the more likely they are to have fears. Often, without hesitation, parents inspire fear in children with their never-realized threats like: “Uncle will take you in a bag”, “I will leave you”, etc.

In addition to these factors, fears also arise as a result of fixing strong frights in the emotional memory when meeting with everything that personifies danger or poses a direct threat to life, including an attack, accident, operation, or serious illness.

If anxiety intensifies in a child, fears appear - an indispensable companion of anxiety, then neurotic traits may develop. Self-doubt, as a character trait, is a self-destructive attitude towards oneself, one's strengths and capabilities. Anxiety as a character trait is a pessimistic attitude towards life when it is presented as full of threats and dangers.

Uncertainty gives rise to anxiety and indecision, and they, in turn, form the corresponding character.

Thus, a diffident, prone to doubt and hesitation, a timid, anxious child is indecisive, dependent, often infantile, highly suggestible.

An insecure, anxious person is always suspicious, and suspiciousness breeds distrust of others. Such a child is afraid of others, waiting for attacks, ridicule, resentment. He does not cope with the task in the game, with the case.

This contributes to the formation of psychological defense reactions in the form of aggression directed at others. So, one of the most famous methods, which anxious children often choose, is based on a simple conclusion: “in order to be afraid of nothing, you need to make sure that they are afraid of me.” The mask of aggression carefully hides anxiety not only from others, but also from the child himself. However, deep down they still have the same anxiety, confusion and uncertainty, lack of solid support. Also, the reaction of psychological defense is expressed in refusing to communicate and avoiding persons from whom the “threat” comes. Such a child is lonely, closed, inactive.

It is also possible that the child finds psychological protection by “going into the fantasy world”. In fantasies, the child resolves his insoluble conflicts, in dreams he finds satisfaction of his unfulfilled needs.

Fantasy is one of the wonderful qualities inherent in children. Normal fantasies (constructive fantasies) are characterized by their constant connection with reality. On the one hand, the real events of the child's life give impetus to his imagination (fantasies, as it were, continue life); on the other hand - the fantasies themselves influence reality - the child feels the desire to make his dreams come true. The fantasies of anxious children lack these properties. The dream does not continue life, but rather opposes itself to life. The same separation from reality is in the very content of disturbing fantasies, which have nothing to do with the actual possibilities with the actual possibilities and abilities, the prospects for the development of the child. Such children do not dream at all about what they really have a soul for, in what they could actually prove themselves. Anxiety as a certain emotional infusion with a predominance of feelings of anxiety and fear of doing something wrong, not meeting generally accepted requirements and norms develops closer to 7 and especially 8 years with a large number of insoluble fears coming from an earlier age. The main source of anxiety for younger students is the family. In the future, already for adolescents, this role of the family is significantly reduced; but the role of the school doubles.

It is noted that the intensity of anxiety experience, the level of anxiety in boys and girls are different. At primary school age, boys are more anxious than girls. This is due to the situations with which they associate their anxiety, how they explain it, what they fear. And the older the children, the more noticeable this difference. Girls are more likely to associate their anxiety with other people. The people with whom girls can associate their anxiety include not only friends, relatives, teachers. Girls are afraid of the so-called "dangerous people" - drunkards, hooligans, etc. Boys, on the other hand, are afraid of physical injury, accidents, as well as punishments that can be expected from parents or outside the family: teachers, school principals, etc.

The negative consequences of anxiety are expressed in the fact that, without affecting intellectual development in general, a high degree of anxiety can adversely affect the formation of divergent (i.e. creative, creative) thinking, for which such personality traits as the absence of fear of the new, the unknown are natural .

However, in children of primary school age, anxiety is not yet a stable character trait and is relatively reversible when appropriate psychological and pedagogical measures are taken, and a child’s anxiety can be significantly reduced if teachers and parents raising him follow the necessary recommendations.