Deficiencies of parental competence in issues of parenting and digital socialization as growth points in the psychological well-being of children and their parents

PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the needs for counseling from parents of primary school students on a wide range of psychological, pedagogical, and legal issues. The analysis of parental competence deficiencies helps to identify and clarify growth points in the psychological well-being of parents and their children. Counseling needs were identified through a survey of parents of primary school students aged 6 to 11 years (n = 11436). The analysis of the most popular parental requests covers the topics of the development of abilities, independence, and learning ability of the child, issues of digital socialization, and problems of stress and anxiety. There is a tendency to decrease the total number of requests from parents of primary school students for consultation throughout the primary school period. This fact may be associated, on the one hand, with an increased risk of psychological distress for children and parents during the crisis period of adaptation to school and, on the other hand, with an increase in the confidence and awareness of the parents of primary school students and, accordingly, a decrease in their parental anxiety. In contrast to the parents of first-graders, the parents of eight-year-old primary school students are less interested in the topics of speech therapy assistance to the child, the formation of reading and writing skills, and incorrect pronunciation of sounds. At the same time, they are more interested in the issues of academic failure and independence of the pupil. Parents of nine-yearold primary school students tend to decrease requests for speech therapy counseling and learning independence issues, but there is an increase in the demand for counseling on digital socialization of the child (e.g., addiction to computer games). The trend of increasing parents’ interest in the topic of digital socialization of a child increases significantly by the age of ten. Parent requests were analyzed using hierarchical clustering (binary distances, Ward’s method), which allowed combining requests into two large clusters. The first cluster of parent requests, the most demanded, is designated as «Learning, Ability, and Stress» and includes 18 parent requests for counseling assistance. This cluster is divided into two subgroups: «Learning Difficulties» and «Development of Abilities, Coping with Stress and Anxiety». The second subgroup is divided into two independent groups: «Development of Abilities and Digital Competence» and «Stress and Anxiety». The second cluster, «Organization of Learning, Undesirable Behavior, and Communication Difficulties», has a complex structure and contains 8 separate subgroups, which are combined into 3 subclusters: «Organization of Study, Recreation, Reading, Digital and Home Learning», «Undesirable Behavior, and Legal Requests», and «Difficulties with Using, Pronouncing, and Understanding Speech». The two identified clusters reflect two sides of the primary school students’ socialization: the internal dynamics of socialization and the external conditions for its success