Study of the causes of increased levels of anxiety in children of primary school age. Causes of anxiety in children of primary school age Causes of anxiety in primary school age

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Hosted at http://www.allbest.ru/

Course work

Characteristics of anxiety in children of primary school age

Introduction

1. The concept of anxiety in psychology

1.1 Definition of anxiety

1.2 The manifestation of anxiety in children of primary school age

2. Study of anxiety in children of primary school age

2.1 Diagnosis of anxiety in children of primary school age

2.2 Anxiety research in children

Conclusion

List of sources used

Application

Introduction

The theme of the course work is "Characteristics of anxiety in children of primary school age."

Modern scientific knowledge demonstrates a growing interest in the problem of personality anxiety.

Anxiety is a common psychological phenomenon of our time. It is a frequent symptom of neurosis and functional psychosis. Like any psychological formation, anxiety is characterized by a complex structure, including cognitive, emotional and operational aspects, with the emotional dominating. In general, anxiety is a subjective manifestation of a person's ill-being, its maladjustment. Anxiety is considered as an experience of emotional discomfort, a premonition of impending danger. Of particular concern to psychologists in recent years is the process of formation of anxiety states in the school environment.

School stresses include pathogenic psycho-physiological, emotional states of students, caused by an unfavorable psychological climate in the classroom, conflicts between students, the didactic influence of teachers, an improperly organized system for testing students' knowledge (surveys in the classroom, tests, exams).

The main causes of school anxiety: the conflict between the needs of the child; conflicting demands from parents and teachers; inadequate requirements that do not correspond to the psychophysiological development of the child; conflict of the educational system of the school; inflexible system of education at school.

The main manifestations of school anxiety include the following: the student often answers not to the point, cannot single out the main thing; experiences failures for a long time during the lesson; with difficulty tunes in to classes after a break, an outdoor game; with an unexpected question from the teacher, the student is often lost, but if given time to think, he can answer well; performs any task for a long time, is often distracted; requires constant attention from the teacher; for the slightest reason is distracted from the task; noticeably dislikes the lesson, languishes, shows activity only at breaks; does not know how to make efforts, if something does not work out, stops work, looks for some kind of excuse; almost never answers correctly if the question is posed outside the box, if you need to be quick-witted; after the teacher's explanation, it is difficult to perform similar tasks; Difficulty applying previously learned concepts.

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. The intensity of experiencing anxiety, 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 also afraid of the so-called "dangerous" people - hooligans, drunkards, 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.

Currently, the number of anxious children, characterized by increased anxiety, insecurity, and emotional instability, has increased. This is the reason for the growing interest in the study of this problem.

The concepts of "anxiety", "anxiety" were studied by many scientists, such as Z. Freud, K. Izard, K. Horney, A.M. Parishioners, V.S. Merlin, F.B. Berezin and others. Work on this problem continues to this day.

The course work consists of two chapters. The first chapter deals with the concept of anxiety in psychology. This chapter also describes the presence of anxiety in the process of teaching children at school, namely at primary school age. The second chapter describes a study conducted with children to identify anxiety, as well as a description of the methods used.

emotional discomfort experience anxiety anxiety

1. The concept of anxiety in psychology

1.1 Definition of anxiety

In psychology, there are many interpretations of the concept of anxiety. Let's pay attention to some of them.

According to A.M. Parishioners, anxiety is an experience of emotional discomfort associated with the expectation of trouble, with a premonition of imminent danger. Distinguish between anxiety as an emotional state and as a stable property, personality trait or temperament.

According to E.G. Silyaev, anxiety is defined as a persistent negative experience of anxiety and expectation of trouble from others.

According to V.V. Davydova, anxiety is an individual psychological feature, consisting in an increased tendency to experience anxiety in a variety of life situations.

A similar definition can be found when analyzing the work of A.V. Petrovsky. In his opinion, 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.

Thus, under the concept of "anxiety" psychologists understand the state of a person, which is characterized by an increased tendency to experiences, fears and anxiety, which has a negative emotional connotation.

Although practicing psychologists in everyday professional communication use the words "anxiety" and "anxiety" as synonyms, for psychological science these concepts are not equivalent. In modern psychology, it is customary to distinguish between "anxiety" and "anxiety", although half a century ago this distinction was not obvious. Now such terminological differentiation is characteristic of both domestic and foreign psychology, and allows us to analyze this phenomenon through the categories of mental state and mental properties.

In the most general sense, anxiety is defined as an emotional state that arises in a situation of uncertain danger and manifests itself in anticipation of an unfavorable development of events. The concretization of this definition allows us to consider anxiety as an unfavorable emotional state or internal condition, which is characterized by subjective feelings of tension, anxiety, and gloomy forebodings. The state of anxiety occurs when an individual perceives a certain stimulus or situation as carrying elements of a potential or actual threat, danger, or harm.

The concept of anxiety was introduced into psychology in 1925 by Z. Freud, who bred fear as such, concrete fear and indefinite, unaccountable fear - anxiety that has a deep, irrational, internal character. The differentiation of anxiety and fear according to the principle proposed by Z. Freud is also supported by many modern researchers. It is believed that, in contrast to fear as a reaction to a specific threat, anxiety is a generalized, diffuse or pointless fear.

According to another point of view, fear is a reaction to a threat to a person as a biological being, when a person’s life, his physical integrity is endangered, while anxiety is an experience that occurs when a person is threatened as a social subject, when his values, ideas are endangered. about himself, position in society. In this case, anxiety is seen as an emotional state associated with the possibility of frustration of social needs.

According to K. Izard, the state of anxiety consists of the dominant emotion of fear interacting with other basic socially mediated emotions.

In existentialism, anxiety is understood as the result of the awareness and experience that everything is transient, the hidden awareness of our inevitable finitude. Because of this, it is natural and irremovable, while fear is caused by stimuli more or less identified by the individual (objects, events, thoughts, memories) and, as a result, is more under his control. At the same time, it is emphasized that only a person as a being endowed with self-consciousness can be anxious.

Anxiety is a sequence of cognitive, emotional and behavioral reactions that are actualized as a result of the impact on a person of various stressors, which can be both external stimuli (people, situations) and internal factors (the current state, past life experience that determines the interpretation of events and anticipation of scenarios for their development, etc.). Anxiety performs several important functions: it warns a person about a possible danger and encourages the search and specification of this danger based on an active study of the surrounding reality.

In psychology, there are two types of anxiety: mobilizing and relaxing. Mobilizing anxiety gives an additional impetus to activity, while relaxing anxiety reduces its effectiveness up to a complete cessation.

The question of what type of anxiety a person will experience more often is largely decided in childhood. An important role here is played by the style of interaction of the child with significant others. Researchers see the reasons for the tendency to experience relaxing anxiety, first of all, in the formation of the so-called “learned helplessness” in the child, which, having consolidated, sharply reduces the effectiveness of educational activity. The second factor that determines the nature of the "anxious mediation" of activity is the intensity of a given mental state.

According to F.B. Berezin, the occurrence of anxiety is associated with an increase in behavioral activity, a change in the nature of behavior. A decrease in the intensity of anxiety is perceived as evidence of the sufficiency and adequacy of the implemented forms of behavior, as the restoration of previously impaired adaptation.

Unlike pain, anxiety is a signal of danger that has not yet been realized. The prediction of this danger is of a probabilistic nature, depends on both situational and personal factors, and is ultimately determined by the characteristics of transactions in the system man-environment. At the same time, personal factors may be more significant than situational ones, and in this case, the intensity of anxiety reflects the individual characteristics of the subject to a greater extent than the real significance of the threat.

Anxiety of the least intensity corresponds to a feeling of internal tension, expressed in experiences of tension, alertness, and discomfort. It does not carry signs of a threat, but serves as a signal of the approach of more pronounced alarming phenomena. This level of anxiety has the highest adaptive value.

At the second level, the feeling of internal tension is replaced or supplemented by hyperesthetic reactions, due to which previously neutral stimuli acquire significance, and when strengthened, they acquire a negative emotional coloring.

The third level - actually anxiety - is manifested in the experience of an indefinite threat. A feeling of vague danger that can develop into fear (fourth level) is a state that occurs when anxiety increases and manifests itself in the objectification of an vague danger. At the same time, objects identified as "frightening" do not necessarily reflect the real cause of the anxiety.

The fifth level is called the feeling of the inevitability of an impending catastrophe. It arises as a result of an increase in anxiety and the experience of the impossibility of avoiding danger, an imminent catastrophe, which is not associated with the content of fear, but only with an increase in anxiety.

The most intense manifestation of anxiety - the sixth level - anxious-fearful excitement - is expressed in the need for motor discharge, the search for help, which disorganizes human behavior as much as possible.

There are several points of view on the relationship between the intensity of experiencing anxiety and the effectiveness of the activity mediated by it.

The threshold theory states that each individual has his own threshold of arousal, beyond which the efficiency of activity drops sharply.

The common point of these theories is the idea that intense anxiety has a disorganizing effect.

The state of relaxing anxiety, like any other mental state, finds its expression at different levels of the human organization (physiological, emotional, cognitive, behavioral).

At the physiological level, anxiety manifests itself in an increase in heart rate, increased breathing, an increase in minute volume of blood circulation, an increase in blood pressure, an increase in general excitability, a decrease in sensitivity thresholds, dry mouth, weakness in the legs, etc.

The emotional level is characterized by the experience of helplessness, impotence, insecurity, ambivalence of feelings, giving rise to difficulties in decision-making and goal-setting (cognitive level).

The greatest variety is found among the behavioral manifestations of anxiety - aimless walking around the room, biting nails, rocking in a chair, tapping fingers on the table, pulling hair, twisting various objects in the hands, etc.

Thus, the state of anxiety arises as a function of the (potentially) dangerous situation and the personal characteristics of the person associated with its interpretation.

Unlike anxiety, anxiety in modern psychology is considered as a mental property and is defined as an individual's tendency to experience anxiety, characterized by a low threshold for the occurrence of an anxiety reaction.

The term "anxiety" is used to refer to relatively persistent individual differences in an individual's propensity to experience the condition. This feature is not directly manifested in behavior, but its level can be determined based on how often and how intensely anxiety states are observed in a person. A person with severe anxiety tends to perceive the world around him as containing danger and threat to a much greater extent than a person with a low level of anxiety.

In this status, anxiety was first described by Z. Freud (1925), who used a term to describe “freely floating”, diffuse anxiety, which is a symptom of neurosis, meaning literally translated “readiness for anxiety” or “readiness in the form of anxiety”.

In Russian psychology, anxiety has also traditionally been viewed as a manifestation of ill-being caused by neuropsychiatric and severe somatic diseases, or as a consequence of a mental trauma.

At present, the attitude towards the phenomenon of anxiety has changed significantly, and opinions regarding this personality trait are becoming less unambiguous and categorical. The modern approach to the phenomenon of anxiety is based on the fact that the latter should not be considered as an inherently negative personality trait; it is a signal of the inadequacy of the structure of the subject's activity in relation to the situation. Each person has their own optimal level of anxiety, the so-called useful anxiety, which is a necessary condition for personality development.

To date, anxiety is being studied as one of the main parameters of individual differences. At the same time, its belonging to one or another level of human mental organization is still a controversial issue; it can be interpreted both as an individual and as a personal property of a person.

According to V.S. Merlin and his followers, anxiety is a generalized characteristic of mental activity associated with the inertia of nervous processes.

To date, the mechanisms of anxiety formation remain uncertain, and the problem of addressing this mental property in the practice of psychological assistance largely boils down to whether it is an innate, genetically determined trait, or is formed under the influence of various life circumstances. An attempt to reconcile these, in essence, opposite positions was made by A.M. Parishioners, who described two types of anxiety:

Pointless anxiety, when a person cannot correlate his experiences with specific objects;

Anxiety as a tendency to expect trouble in various activities and communication.

The first variant of anxiety is due to the peculiarities of the nervous system, that is, the neurophysiological properties of the body, and is innate, while in others this mental property is acquired in individual life experience.

According to A.M. Parishioners can distinguish the following options for experiencing and overcoming anxiety:

Open anxiety is consciously experienced and manifested in activity in the form of a state of anxiety. It can exist in various forms, for example:

As acute, unregulated or poorly regulated anxiety, most often disorganizing human activity;

Regulated and compensated anxiety, which can be used by a person as a stimulus to perform appropriate activities, which, however, is possible mainly in stable, familiar situations;

Cultivated anxiety associated with the search for "secondary benefits" from one's own anxiety, which requires a certain personal maturity (this form of anxiety appears only in adolescence).

Hidden anxiety - to varying degrees unconscious, manifested either in excessive calmness, insensitivity to real trouble and even denial of it, or indirectly through specific forms of behavior (pulling hair, pacing from side to side, tapping fingers on the table, etc.) :

Inadequate calmness (reactions according to the principle “I'm fine!”, Associated with a compensatory-protective attempt to maintain self-esteem; low self-esteem is not allowed in consciousness);

Avoiding the situation.

Thus, the state of anxiety or anxiety as a mental property is in confrontation with basic personal needs: the need for emotional well-being, a sense of confidence, security.

A specific feature of anxiety as a personality trait is that it has its own motivating force. The emergence and consolidation of anxiety is largely due to the dissatisfaction of the actual needs of a person, which are becoming hypertrophied. The consolidation and strengthening of anxiety largely occurs according to the mechanism of a “vicious psychological circle”.

The mechanism of the “vicious psychological circle” can be deciphered as follows: the anxiety arising in the process of activity partially reduces its effectiveness, which leads to negative self-assessments or assessments from others, which, in turn, confirm the legitimacy of anxiety in such situations. At the same time, since the experience of anxiety is a subjectively unfavorable state, it may not be realized by a person.

Thus, anxiety is a factor that mediates human behavior either in specific or in a wide range of situations.

1.2 Manifestation of anxiety in primary school childrenhrasta

School anxiety is one of the typical problems faced by a school psychologist. It attracts special attention because it is the clearest sign of a child's maladaptation, negatively affecting all areas of his life: not only study, but also communication, including outside the school, health and overall level of psychological well-being.

This problem is complicated by the fact that quite often in the practice of school life, children with severe anxiety are considered the most “convenient” for teachers and parents: they always prepare lessons, strive to fulfill all the requirements of teachers, and do not violate the rules of behavior at school. On the other hand, this is not the only form of manifestation of high school anxiety; often this is a problem of the most “difficult” children, who are rated by parents and teachers as “uncontrollable”, “inattentive”, “ill-mannered”, “arrogant”. Such a variety of manifestations of school anxiety is due to the heterogeneity of the causes leading to school maladaptation.

At the same time, despite the obvious differences in behavioral manifestations, they are based on a single syndrome - school anxiety, which is not always easy to recognize.

School anxiety begins to form in preschool age. It arises as a result of the child's encounter with the requirements of education and the seeming impossibility of meeting them. This leads to the fact that by the time the child enters school, he is already “prepared” for an alarming response to various aspects of school life.

Primary school age is considered emotionally rich. This is due to the fact that with school entry, the range of potentially disturbing events expands.

Since anxiety is an integral element of the adaptation process, first graders experience the most anxiety about school life, for whom school attendance is a fundamentally new form of life organization.

By the second grade, the child is fully oriented in the system of educational activities and school requirements. In general, by the second or third grade, anxiety is lower than in the first year of schooling. At the same time, personal development leads to the fact that the range of potential causes of school anxiety is expanding. These include:

school troubles (deuces, remarks, punishments);

domestic troubles (experiences of parents, punishments);

fear of physical violence (high school students can take away money, chewing gum);

unfavorable communication with peers ("teasing", "laughing").

In connection with the child's transition to schooling, the problem of the child's psychological adaptation to school arises as the problem of mastering a new social space for development and a new social position - the position of a schoolchild.

Primary schoolchildren have a discrepancy between the motives with which the child enters school and those that are needed for successful learning activities. This activity has not yet developed as an integrity and as something peculiar to the child.

Coming to school, the teacher for the first time acts for the child as the personification of the requirements and assessments of society. A lot of effort is spent by a junior student to teach himself to learn. For example, you need to remember the material and answer not when it “comes to mind”, but when asked. This presupposes volitional regulation of memory and develops it.

The cause of anxiety is always an internal conflict, the inconsistency of the child's aspirations, when one of his desires contradicts another, one need interferes with another. The contradictory internal state of the child can be caused by: conflicting demands on him, coming from different sources (or even from the same source: it happens that parents contradict themselves, now allowing, then rudely forbidding the same thing); inadequate requirements that do not correspond to the capabilities and aspirations of the child; negative demands that put the child in a humiliated, dependent position. In all three cases, there is a feeling of "loss of support"; loss of strong guidelines in life, uncertainty in the world around.

The basis of the internal conflict of the child may be an external conflict - between parents. However, mixing internal and external conflicts is completely unacceptable. Contradictions in the child's environment do not always become his internal contradictions. Not every child becomes anxious if his mother and grandmother do not like each other and bring him up differently. Only when the child takes both sides of the conflicting world to heart, when they become part of his emotional life, are all conditions created for the emergence of anxiety.

Anxiety in younger students is very often due to a lack of emotional and social stimuli. Of course, this can happen to a person at any age. But studies have shown that in childhood, when the foundation of the human personality is laid, the consequences of anxiety can be significant and dangerous. Anxiety always threatens those where the child is a burden to the family, where he does not feel love, where they do not show interest in him. It also threatens those where education in the family is excessively rational, bookish, cold, without feeling and sympathy.

Anxiety penetrates the soul of a child only when the conflict permeates his whole life, preventing the realization of his most important needs.

These essential needs include: the need for physical existence (food, water, freedom from physical threat, etc.); the need for closeness, attachment to a person or group of people; the need for independence, for independence, for the recognition of the right to one's own "I"; the need for self-realization, for revealing one's abilities, one's hidden powers, the need for the meaning of life and purpose.

One of the most common causes of anxiety is excessive demands on the child, an inflexible, dogmatic system of education that does not take into account the child's own activity, his interests, abilities and inclinations. The most common system of education is "you must be an excellent student." Expressed manifestations of anxiety are observed in well-performing children, who are distinguished by conscientiousness, exactingness towards themselves, combined with an orientation towards grades, and not towards the process of cognition. It happens that parents focus on high, inaccessible achievements in sports, art, impose on him (if it is a boy) the image of a real man, a strong, courageous, dexterous, undefeated, inconsistency with which (and it is impossible to correspond to this image) hurts boyish selfishness. The same area includes the imposition of interests alien to the child (but highly valued by parents), such as tourism, swimming. None of these activities are bad in and of themselves. However, the choice of a hobby should belong to the child himself. The forced participation of the child in matters that are not of interest to the student puts him in a situation of inevitable failure.

The state of pure or, as psychologists say, “free floating”, anxiety is extremely difficult to endure. Uncertainty, vagueness of the source of the threat makes the search for a way out of the situation very difficult and complicated. When I get angry, I can fight. When I feel sad, I can seek solace. But in a state of anxiety, I can neither defend nor fight, because I do not know what to fight and defend against.

As soon as anxiety arises, a number of mechanisms turn on in the child’s soul that “process” this state into something else, albeit also unpleasant, but not so unbearable. Such a child may outwardly give the impression of calm and even self-confident, but it is necessary to learn to recognize anxiety and "under the mask".

The internal task facing an emotionally unstable child is to find an island of safety in the sea of ​​anxiety and try to strengthen it as best as possible, to close it from all sides from the raging waves of the surrounding world. At the initial stage, a feeling of fear is formed: the child is afraid to remain in the dark, or be late for school, or answer at the blackboard. Fear is the first derivative of anxiety. Its advantage is that it has a border, which means that there is always some free space outside these borders.

Anxious children are characterized 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 especially sensitive. So, the child may be worried: while he is in the garden, suddenly something will happen to his mother.

Anxious 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 this, which the children are not able to fulfill, and in case of failure, they are usually punished and humiliated.

Anxious children are very sensitive to their failures, react sharply to them, tend to refuse those activities, such as painting, in which they have difficulty.

Children 7-11 years old, unlike adults, are constantly on the move. For them, movement is as strong a need as the need for food, parental love. Therefore, their desire to move must be treated as one of the physiological functions of the body. Sometimes the demands of parents to sit practically still are so excessive that the child is practically deprived of freedom of movement.

In these children, you can notice a noticeable difference in behavior in and out of class. Outside of classes, these are lively, sociable and direct children, in the classroom they are clamped and tense. Teachers answer questions in a quiet and deaf voice, they may even begin to stutter.

Their speech can be either very fast, hasty, or slow, difficult. As a rule, prolonged excitement occurs: the child pulls clothes with his hands, manipulates something.

Anxious children are prone to bad habits of a neurotic nature, and bite their nails, suck their fingers, pull out their hair, engage in masturbation. Manipulation with their own body reduces their emotional stress, soothe them.

Drawing helps to recognize anxious children. Their drawings are distinguished by an abundance of shading, strong pressure, as well as small image sizes. Often these children get stuck on details, especially small ones.

Anxious children have a serious, restrained expression, lowered eyes, sits neatly on a chair, tries not to make unnecessary movements, not to make noise, prefers not to attract the attention of others. Such children are called modest, shy.

Thus, the anxiety of younger schoolchildren can be caused both by external conflicts emanating from parents, and by internal ones - from the child himself. The behavior of anxious children is characterized by frequent manifestations of anxiety and anxiety, such children live in constant tension, all the time, feeling threatened, feeling that they can face failure at any moment.

2. Study of Anxiety in Primary School Children

2.1 Diagnosis of anxiety in children of primary school ageWiththat

In the first chapter, an analysis of the psychological literature on the definition of anxiety in psychology was carried out, as well as a description of the school anxiety of younger students in the psychological literature. In addition to the analysis of the literature on this issue, a study of anxiety in younger schoolchildren was conducted, which will be described in this chapter.

The purpose of this psychological study: the study and description of anxiety in children of primary school age.

Hypothesis: Identifying children's anxiety level will help determine each child's anxiety level and help the teacher find approaches to children and create children's emotional well-being.

The purpose and hypothesis of the study determined the objectives of the study:

1. Select the necessary methods for conducting the study.

2. Diagnose anxiety in children of primary school age.

3. Determine the level of anxiety in children.

Research methods:

1. Methods for detecting the level of anxiety in children R. Temmla, M. Dorki, V. Amen.

2. Ch. Phillips anxiety test.

The study used the method of detecting anxiety in children by V. Amen, R. Temml, M. Dorki. Students of the 2nd "B" class of the State Educational Institution "Primary School of Buda-Koshelevo" participated in the study. The sample consisted of 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls).

The anxiety test (R. Tamml, M. Dorki, V. Amen) includes 14 drawings separately for boys and separately for girls (see Appendix A). Each drawing represents some typical situation in a child's life. The face of the child is not drawn in the figure, only the outline of the head is given. Each drawing is provided with two additional drawings of a child's head, the size exactly corresponding to the contour of the face in the drawing. One of them depicts a smiling face of a child, the other - a sad one. The drawings are shown to the child in a strictly listed order, one after another. The interview takes place in a separate room.

Based on the protocol data, the child's anxiety index (IT) is calculated. IT represents the percentage of emotionally negative choices (choice of a sad face) to the total number of presented drawings (14).

IT = number of emotionally negative choices / 14 * 100.

IT children are divided into 3 groups:

1) 0-20% - low level of anxiety;

2) 20-50% - medium;

3) Over 50% - high.

Qualitative data analysis makes it possible to determine the features of the child's emotional experience in various situations, which can be divided into situations with positive, negative emotional coloring and situations with a double meaning.

Situations with a positive emotional coloring include those presented in Fig. 1 (play with younger children), 5 (play with older children), and 13 (child with parents).

Situations with negative emotional coloring are shown in Fig. 3 (object of aggression), 8 (reprimand), 10 (aggressive attack) and 12 (isolation).

The situations in fig. 2 (baby and mother and infant), 4 (dressing), 6 (going to bed alone), 7 (washing), 9 (ignoring), 11 (cleaning toys), and 14 (eating alone).

Figs. 4 (dressing), 6 (going to bed alone) and 14 (eating alone). Children who make negative emotional choices in these situations are likely to have a high level of anxiety.

Children who make negative emotional choices in situations 2 (baby and mother and baby), 7 (washing), 9 (ignoring), and 11 (cleaning up toys) are more likely to have a high or moderate level of anxiety.

When interpreting the data, the anxiety experienced by a child in a particular situation is considered as a manifestation of his negative emotional experience in this or a similar situation.

A high level of anxiety indicates a lack of emotional adaptation of the child to certain life situations. Emotionally positive or emotionally negative experience indirectly allows us to judge the features of the child's relationship with peers, adults in the family, at school.

After processing and interpreting the data obtained using this technique, we determined the level of anxiety of each child participating in the study. The results are described in Table No. 1.

The results of the study of the level of anxiety 2 "B" class

The overall result is shown in Table 2.

As can be seen from the tables of 24 children, a low level of anxiety is observed in 3 children, which is 12.5%; more than half of the children (17) have an average level of anxiety - 70.8%; a high level of anxiety is observed in 4 children, which is 16.7%. Children with a high level of anxiety during the diagnosis showed anxiety, excitement. In some children, increased motor activity was observed: swinging the leg, winding the hair around the finger. During the diagnosis, children with a high level of anxiety often chose a picture that showed a sad face. To the question “Why?”, these children more often answered: “Because he was punished”, “Because she is scolded”, etc.

From this study, we can conclude that children of this class have a certain anxiety in certain situations. The teacher of the class needs to pay attention to the relationships in the families of the children. Also, special attention should be paid to children with a high level of anxiety.

2.2 Children's Anxiety Study

The purpose of the methodology is to study the level and nature of anxiety associated with school in children of primary and secondary school age. The test consists of 58 questions that can be read to schoolchildren, or...

Similar Documents

Anxiety as one of the common phenomena of mental development. Studies of anxiety in domestic and foreign psychology. Features and factors of anxiety in children of primary school age. Overcoming anxiety and insecurity.

term paper, added 08/22/2013


Carrying out correctional and developmental work, the formation of adequate behavior in children of primary school age. Improving the quality indicators of children's assimilation of knowledge and skills in the learning process. Causes, prevention and overcoming anxiety.

practice report, added 01/20/2016


Features of learning and mental development of children of primary school age, characteristics of the main neoplasms. The concept and manifestations of anxiety. Methods for diagnosing the degree of anxiety in younger schoolchildren and their practical approbation.

thesis, added 10/15/2010


Signs of anxiety in children of primary school age. Psychological and pedagogical possibilities of game activity. Psychological characteristics of the role-playing game and the organization of correctional sessions of a psychologist with anxious children of primary school age.

thesis, added 11/23/2008


Anxiety as a state of expedient preparatory increase in sensory attention and motor tension in a situation of possible danger: causes, main types. Consideration of the features of anxiety in children of primary school age.

thesis, added 12/16/2012


The concept and determinants of the formation of anxiety in children of preschool and primary school age, its causes and problems. Organization, tools and results of the study of age differences in the level of anxiety of preschoolers and younger schoolchildren.

term paper, added 04/02/2016


The concept of fear in modern child psychology. Characteristics of indicators of anxiety of younger schoolchildren. Organization and methodology for the study of experimental data on the relationship between fears and the level of self-esteem in children of primary school age.

thesis, added 02/12/2011


The concept of self-esteem and anxiety in the psychological literature. Conducting a psychodiagnostic study to determine success in educational activities, self-esteem and the level of anxiety of children of primary school age of the second year of study.

term paper, added 11/29/2013


The psychological essence of stress. Features of anxiety in children of school age. Lewis and Perky's School System Analysis Principle. The role of the teacher in developing the level of self-perception of students. The study of the level of anxiety in primary and secondary schoolchildren.

term paper, added 12/13/2012


Study of the phenomenon of anxiety and academic performance in foreign and domestic psychological science. Features of primary school age. Methodology for conducting a study of the relationship between anxiety and the level of school performance in younger students.

primary school teacher Ternovykh A. B.

Causes of school anxiety in children of primary school age.

In the last decade, interest in studying the problem of school anxiety and adaptation of students has significantly increased due to drastic changes in society that give rise to uncertainty and unpredictability and, as a result, experiences of emotional tension and anxiety.
The psychological health of children depends on socio-economic, environmental, cultural, psychological and many other factors.
According to L.I. Bozhovich, the child, as the most sensitive part of society, is subject to various negative influences. School education (learning new things, testing acquired skills and abilities) is always accompanied by an increase in anxiety in children. But despite this, some optimal level of anxiety activates learning, makes it more effective. In this case, anxiety is a factor in mobilizing attention, memory, and intellectual abilities.

Anxiety is a common psychological phenomenon of our time and is considered as an experience of emotional discomfort, a premonition of impending danger. Of particular concern in recent years is the process of formation of anxiety states in children in primary school.

The school is one of the first to open up the world of social and social life for the child and, in parallel with the family, takes on one of the main roles in the upbringing of the child. Thus, the school becomes one of the determining factors in the formation of the child's personality. Many of his main properties and personal qualities are formed during this period of life, and how they are laid down largely depends on all his subsequent development.

D For any child, going to school is an extremely significant event. One quickly gets used to the new environment and new requirements, while the process of adaptation is delayed for the other. As is well known, a child's admission to school is associated with the emergence of the most important personality neoformation - the "internal position of a schoolchild". The internal position is the motivational center that ensures the child's focus on learning, his emotionally positive attitude towards school, the desire to conform to the model of a "good student". In cases where the most important needs of the child, reflecting the position of the student, are not satisfied, he may experience persistent emotional distress, expressed in the expectation of constant failure at school, poor attitude towards himself from teachers and classmates, fear of school, unwillingness to attend it.

School anxiety is one of the manifestations of a child's emotional distress. It is expressed in excitement, increased anxiety in educational situations, in the classroom, in anticipation of a bad attitude towards oneself, a negative assessment from teachers and peers. The child constantly feels his own inadequacy, inferiority, is not sure of the correctness of his behavior, his decisions.

Teachers and parents usually say about such a child that he is “afraid of everything”, “very vulnerable”, “distrustful”, “highly sensitive”, “takes everything too seriously”, etc. However, this usually does not cause much concern for adults. At the same time, an analysis of counseling practice shows that such anxiety is one of the precursors of neurosis in children and that work to overcome it is essential.

A rather high level of school anxiety in children and, by the way, a decrease in their self-esteem are typical for the period when children enter school. The adaptation period in the first grade usually lasts from one to three months. After that, as a rule, the situation changes: the emotional well-being and self-esteem of the child stabilize. Children with various forms of school anxiety in the first grades are currently up to 30-35%. Negative experiences, fears of the child about different aspects of school life can become very intense and stable. Specialists describe such emotional disturbances in different ways. The term "school neurosis" is used when a student has "unreasonable" vomiting, fever, headaches. And it is in the mornings, when you need to get ready for school. "School phobia" refers to an extreme form of fear of going to school. It may not be accompanied by bodily symptoms, but it is difficult to do without medical attention in this case. And school anxiety is one of the forms of emotional distress of a child of primary school age, which requires close attention of teachers and parents, because. can develop into a much more serious form.

The causes of school anxiety are determined by the natural neuropsychic organization of the student. But not the last role in this process is played by the peculiarities of upbringing, exaggerated by the requirements of parents to the child. For some children, fears and reluctance to go to school are caused by the education system itself, including unfair or tactless behavior of the teacher. Moreover, among these children there are schoolchildren with very different academic performance. The well-known psychologist A. Parishioners identifies the following features of anxious children at school:

relatively high level of education. At the same time, the teacher may consider such a child incapable or insufficiently capable of learning. These students cannot single out the main task in the work, focus on it. They try to control all elements of the task at the same time. If it is not possible to immediately cope with the task, the anxious child refuses further attempts. He explains the failure not by his inability to solve a specific problem, but by his lack of any abilities. At the lesson, the behavior of such children may seem strange: sometimes they answer questions correctly, sometimes they are silent or answer at random, including giving ridiculous answers. They sometimes speak inconsistently, chokingly, blushing and gesticulating, sometimes barely audible. And it has nothing to do with how well the child knows the lesson. When an anxious student is pointed out to his mistake, the strangeness of behavior intensifies, he seems to lose all orientation in the situation, does not understand how he can and should behave. And yet school anxiety is characteristic of children and other school ages. It can manifest itself in their attitude to grades, fear of tests and exams.

A child's entry into school like an avalanche increases the number of verbalized and non-verbalized assessments that he encounters on a daily basis. Anxious children literally from the first days of being at school find themselves in a situation of negative evaluation, chronic failure. It is the inability of the child to cope with this failure that largely serves as the basis for the emergence of anxiety in him and its consolidation.

To study the phenomenon of anxiety, we conducted a study to identify anxiety in children and to establish the causes of anxiety.

The study used the followingresearch methods : study and analysis of literature on the problem of research, observation, testing, study and analysis of the products of children's activities.

The study used a number of diagnosticmethodologies , test work aimed at identifying continuity and readiness for schooling:

Projective technique "Non-existent animal";

Methodology "Houses" O. A. Orekhova;

Methodology "Diagnosis of school anxiety" A. M. Parishioners.

This study involved 1st grade students.Analyzing the result of this study, it was noted that in the largest number of children of primary school age, the factors of high anxiety turned out to be: fear of a knowledge test situation, fear of self-expression, problems and fears in relations with teachers, and general anxiety about school.

As a result of the study, in order to form a safe educational space, taking into account health-saving technologies and correcting negative factors that destabilize the emotional health of participants in the educational process, special group work activities were carried out with children of primary school age.

The conducted research gives grounds to conclude that in order to reduce the boundaries of increased school anxiety, it is necessary to timely identify the presence and features of the manifestation of anxiety in young children.

Sources and literature.

Astapov V.M. Anxiety in children - St. Petersburg: Peter Press, 2004. - 224p.

Bityanova, M.R. Adaptation of the child to school: diagnostics, correction, pedagogical support. - M.: 1997.-298 p.

Wenger, A.L. Psychological examination of younger schoolchildren [Text] / A.L. Wenger, G.A. Zuckerman. - M.: VLADOS-PRESS, 2003. - 160 p.

Guzanova T.V. Changes in the distribution of school fears of first-graders during the school year // Psychological Science and Education. 2009. №5

Kostina L.M. Methods for diagnosing anxiety [Text]: teaching aid / L.M. Kostina. - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2005. - 198 p.

Miklyaeva A.V. School anxiety: diagnosis, prevention, correction - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2006. - 128p.

Mukhametova, R.M. Psychology. Lessons for children in grades 1-2. / Comp. R.M. Mukhametova. - Volgograd: Teacher - AST, 2004. - 112 p.

Mukhina V.S. Developmental psychology. – M.: 2007.]

Features of the mental development of children aged 6-7 years old / ed. D. B. Elkonin, A. L. Venger. - M.: Pedagogy, 1988. -136 p.

Causes of increased levels of anxiety in children of primary school age

Anxiety is interpreted by psychologists as emotional discomfort that persists for a long time. The main causes of anxiety in children are manifested in the rejection of everything new. For example, a student after a few days of illness does not want to go to school. Many anxious children are prone to a manic order, capricious, get tired quickly, and have difficulty switching to a new type of activity. The first unsuccessful attempt to do something confuses them, and the child blames himself for all the troubles that happen around him. Such children seem to be infected by others with anxiety and nervousness.

Anxiety is not associated with any particular situation and is almost always manifested. This state accompanies a person in any. When a person is afraid of something specific, we are talking about the manifestation of fear. For example, fear of the dark, fear of heights, fear of enclosed space.

K. Izard explains the difference between the terms "fear" and "anxiety" in this way: anxiety is a combination of some emotions, and fear is only one of them.

Relevance of the study: The problem of studying the anxiety of children seems to be quite relevant, since the feeling of anxiety at school age is inevitable. However, the intensity of this experience should not exceed the "critical point" individual for each child.

Anxiety is an individual psychological feature that manifests itself in a person's tendency to often experience severe anxiety for relatively small reasons. It is considered either as a personal formation, or as a feature of temperament associated with the weakness of nervous processes, or as both at the same time.

Types of anxiety:

Sigmund Freud identified three types of anxiety:

Real fear is anxiety associated with danger in the outside world.

Neurotic anxiety is anxiety associated with an unknown and undefined danger.

Moral anxiety - the so-called "anxiety of conscience", associated with the danger coming from the super-ego.

According to the area of ​​​​occurrence, there are:

Private anxiety - anxiety in any particular area associated with something permanent (school, exam, interpersonal anxiety, etc.)

General anxiety is anxiety that freely changes its objects, along with a change in their significance for a person.

According to the adequacy of the situation, they distinguish:

Adequate anxiety - reflects the trouble of a person.

Inadequate anxiety (actual anxiety) is anxiety that manifests itself in areas of reality that are favorable for the individual.

There are various anxieties in children:

1. Anxiety due to potential physical harm. This type of anxiety arises as a result of the association of certain stimuli that threaten pain, danger, physical distress.

2. Anxiety due to loss of love (mother's love, peer affection).

3. Anxiety can be caused by guilt, which usually manifests itself no earlier than 4 years. In older children, the feeling of guilt is characterized by feelings of self-humiliation, vexation with oneself, experiencing oneself as unworthy.

4. Anxiety due to inability to master the environment. It occurs if a person feels that he cannot cope with the problems that the environment puts forward. Anxiety is associated with feelings of inferiority, but is not identical to it.

5. An alarm can also occur in the state. Frustration is defined as an experience that occurs when there is an obstacle to achieving a desired goal or a strong need. There is no complete independence between situations that cause and those that lead to a state of anxiety (loss of parental love, and so on) and the authors do not make a clear distinction between these concepts.

6. Anxiety is inherent in every person to one degree or another. Minor anxiety acts as a mobilizer to achieve the goal. A strong sense of anxiety can be “emotionally crippling” and lead to despair. Anxiety for a person represents problems that need to be dealt with. For this purpose, various protective mechanisms (methods) are used.

7. In the occurrence of anxiety, great importance is attached to family education, the role of mother, child with mother. The period of childhood is predetermining the subsequent development of the personality.

Causes of anxiety in children:

2. Separation.

3. Health of loved ones.

4. Fantasies (monster, etc.)

5. Archaic fears (fire, thunder, thunder, darkness, etc.)

6. Punishment.

Features of the behavior of anxious children

Anxious children are characterized 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 especially sensitive. So, the child may be worried: while he is in the garden, suddenly something will happen to his mother.

Anxious 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 those activities, such as painting, in which they experience difficulties.

In these children, you can notice a noticeable difference in behavior in and out of class. Outside of classes, these are lively, sociable and direct children, in the classroom they are clamped and tense. They answer the questions of the teacher in a quiet and deaf voice, they may even begin to stutter. Their speech can be either very fast, hasty, or slow, difficult. As a rule, prolonged excitement 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). Manipulation with their own body reduces their emotional stress, calms them down.

Studies to identify the causes of anxiety in children of primary school age: were conducted in different schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.

They chose the following methods: the Phillips test, the projective method "School of Animals", drawing therapy, the "Cactus" method (); a technique for identifying parental attitudes (methodology), the technique of "drawings with colored pencils", an anxiety test (R. Tamml, M. Dorki, V. Amen).

This study was conducted in Maksimovskaya, among students, in order to identify increased anxiety.

The Philips School Anxiety Test method was chosen.

The students were asked these questions. Next to each question they had to put "+ or -." After that, the answers must be compared with the key, if the student's answers did not match the answer of the key, this is a manifestation of anxiety.

Test results:

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

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, etc.

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 verification - a negative attitude and anxiety in situations of verification (especially in public) of knowledge, achievements, and opportunities.

Fear of not meeting the expectations of others - focus 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 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.

It can be concluded that the most common factor is the factor of experiencing social stress and the fear of not meeting the expectations of others.

So, having considered all the articles, we can conclude that in recent years, anxiety in young children has been growing. The reasons are all very similar. And the Philips method, which was used to study students, proves this.

To help the child, you need to follow some rules:

1. If possible, avoid various competitions and types of speed work.

2. Use body contact more often when communicating with the baby.

3. Demonstrate patterns of confident behavior, become a role model.

4. Do not compare the child with others.

5. Make fewer comments to the baby.

Do not make excessive demands.

Do not punish without a good reason.

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 adult's communication with the 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, an accident, an operation, or a 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, 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 educating him follow the necessary recommendations.

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, and 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, caused by entering school, 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, not “pleasing” them, and 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 schoolchildren may be due to a symbiotic relationship with the mother, when the mother feels 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, the younger schoolchild 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 also 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.