Studying academic adaptation and subjective well-being in students with chronic diseases can help to explain psychological compensatory mechanisms and help with the development of socio-psychological support programs. It is supposed that the defining role is played by general adaptive potential, and the presence of chronic diseases results in variations in academic adaptation, which, alongside other variables, acts as a predictor of subjective well-being and satisfaction of basic needs. The sample consisted of first-year university students aged 17–26 years (mean = 19.6, SD = 2.8, 18.4% male; n = 419 persons, of which 34.8% with chronic diseases of various etiologies). To evaluate the components of students’ academic adaptation, we used the Academic Adaptation Scale; general adaptive potential was measured using the Multilevel Personal Adaptability Questionnaire; to evaluate subjective well-being, we used the Subjective Well-Being Scale; and satisfaction using the Life Scale. Satisfaction of basic needs was defined with the Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale. Students with chronic diseases demonstrated lower manifested adaptive potential, general markers of academic adaptation, subjective well-being, and satisfaction of basic psychological needs. The results showed that interrelations between various markers in students are largely mediated by academic adaptation and adaptive potential. Thus, the interconnection between adaptive potential and satisfaction of basic needs is significantly mediated by students’ academic adaptation, whereas the interconnection between chronic diseases and academic adaptation is mediated by adaptive potential. In other words, the findings support the assumption regarding the significant mediating role of these variables in subjective well-being. Cognitive, motivational, and communicative components of academic adaptation can serve as compensatory factors for experiencing subjective well-being in students with chronic diseases.

Difficulties that junior adolescents (aged 11–13 years old) experience in terms of academic adaptation, which are indicated through school anxiety and academic wellbeing characteristics, often lead to a dramatic decrease in academic performance, behavioral problems, and deterioration of their health. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the structure of characteristics of school wellbeing/ill-being of junior adolescents and their role in variations of school anxiety, which largely define academic adaptation. In this study, based on positive psychology and a systematic approach, the level of distinctiveness of characteristics of school wellbeing is carried out with the help of comparative analysis; the factor structure of these characteristics is identified; the characteristics of wellbeing and their coordinated combinations (factors) are determined as predictors of school anxiety. The sample consisted of 120 students of the 5th–7th grades, aged M = 11.5; SD = 1.04 (49.2% girls, 50.8% boys) who attended Saratov secondary schools. To study the level of school anxiety, we used the Philips’ School Anxiety Scale (SAS), and indicators of school wellbeing were measured with the original scales developed by the authors of the study. Statistical processing of the results was carried out with regression analysis and factor analysis. The results showed that the school wellbeing of junior adolescents forms a complex structure that includes cognitive, personal, emotional, social, and psychophysiological characteristics of school life. It was found that from 16% up to 53% of the deviation of variables characterizing school anxiety is conditioned by the assessment of variables characterizing emotional states, the ability of self-regulation, cognitive capabilities, and interest in learning. The study determined a high level of tension in adolescents in the field of emotions’ self-regulation, unpleasant physical sensations at school, before and after attending school, in the course of planning their school day and reflecting on educational activities. The most powerful factors of school anxiety in junior adolescents are physical distress, low ability to self-regulate and social adaptation, lack of independence in a learning activity, and personal immaturity.

Evaluation of academic adaptation in students is an important aspect of their incorporation into the educational environment of university. Academic adaptation can be considered a complex multicomponent formation that requires a specially developed tool to measure an individual’s ability to adapt to the educational environment in general. The aim of the research was to develop, validate and standardize a special technique for evaluating academic adaptation in university students. The study involved 419 1—4-year students aged 17—26, with the average age of M=19.6 SD=2.8 (18.4% male). A questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics. To assess the academic potential, we used a technique called “Adaptability” by A.G. Maklakov and S.V. Chermenin. We assumed that academic adaptation includes cognitive, emotional, motivational, psychophysiological, communicative and personal components. Our technique includes six scales matching these components and a separate integral scale. In the process of designing the technique we tested its reliability, face, content and convergent validity and standardization. The results of these testing showed that the technique has good psychometric indicators and can be used both for research and applied purposes.

The correlation of the characteristics of academic adaptation and cognitive functions of students with disabilities will make it possible to develop the best strategies in implementing the principle of equal educational opportunities in higher educational institutions for all students. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the characteristics of academic adaptation and the cognitive functions of students with disabilities and without health restrictions. It is assumed that there is a specificity of cognitive functions and academic adaptation of students with HIA and without restrictions that contribute to academic adaptation and academic success. The study involved 419 students, including 32 (7.8%) students with disabilities. The following methods and techniques were used. The components of academic adaptation were measured using the academic adaptation scale (Shamionov R.M., Grigoriev M.V., Grinina E.S., Sozonnik A.V.). Methods included in the Practice-Moscow State University system were used to evaluate cognitive functions. To study the features of student thinking, the test "Complex analogies" was used, which allows you to identify verbal abilities (thinking by analogy). The assessment of the ability to concentrate and switch attention was carried out using the test "Red-black tables" (F.D. Gorbov). Assessment of students' logical thinking was performed using the Quantitative Relationships test. To evaluate the formal logical abilities and abilities for cognitive learning of students, the Standard Progressive Raven Matrices technique was used. Socio-demographic indicators were measured using the developed questionnaire. As a result of the study, the similarity of indicators of personal, emotional-evaluation, cognitive and motivational components of academic adaptation was established. The severity of psychophysiological (t=3.25; p<0.01) and communicative (t=2.05; p<0.05) components is lower in students with disabilities. Significant differences have been established in the main indicators of attention switching. Lower indicators of attention switching (t=2.82; p<0.02), low pace (t=2.39; p<0.03), accuracy (t=2.27; p<0.04) and productivity (t=2.63; p<0.02) were identified. The relationship between the characteristics of academic adaptation and cognitive functions is predominantly reduced not to the function itself, but to the general performance, time spent on solving certain problems. The higher success of studies at the university of those who have the ability to understand abstraction and complex logical (r=0.219; p<0.01) connections has been confirmed. Conclusions were drawn on the need to create conditions for the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities in the process of teaching students with disabilities in terms of individualizing the educational trajectory, creating conditions for improving communicative competence and mechanisms of psychophysiological self-regulation.

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