Background. The study of moral disengagement is due to exacerbating deviant behaviour in Russian society, including social groups with cognitive and personal qualities required for adequately assessing the situation of moral choice. An analysis of the ways to ensure moral freedom will help to clarify the conditions and factors for implementing a model of behaviour within moral choice.

Objective. Analysis of moral disengagement in adolescence and identifying main areas of empirical research to ensure «moral freedom» are highlighted.

Design. The paper analyses the concept of moral development proposed in the works of A. Bandura including the model of moral disengagement that ensures personal moral freedom; the main directions of empirical research are considered, the relationship of the mechanisms of moral disengagement and moral freedom of the individual are identified.

Results. The main insights into mechanisms of moral disengagement are identified, the age-based mechanisms of moral disengagement, the possibility of using the mechanisms of moral disengagement in the medium and long time perspective are highlighted, the relationship with the components of moral development are determined. The role of moral disengagement in implementing the «moral freedom» of the personality is determined.

Conclusion. The analysis showed that the mechanisms of moral disengagement identified by A. Bandura can be used as a way of gaining moral freedom within immoral behaviour, taking into account certain conditions. In adolescence, the intensity of using moral disengagement mechanisms is higher than in youth. Gender differences in preferences for using mechanisms of moral disengagement were highlighted. There is a relationship between the intensity of using mechanisms of moral disengagement and cognitive and personal characteristics that ensure the moral behaviour of the individual.

Background. One of theoretical approaches towards developmental tasks in adolescence is the study of personal autonomy. The modern fast-paced world expects adolescents to be independent and proactive.

The Objective is to study the overall state of the issue and to highlight the mostly discussed theoretical approaches to personal autonomy, to provide the reader with the detailed review of the approaches to personal autonomy from the view-point of autonomy conflict resolution.

Design. The analysis of various approaches to personal autonomy identified developmental sources of autonomy within intra- and in interpersonal ways. The paper discusses theoretical approaches to adolescent’s personal autonomy that considers conflict as a mechanism of development. The paper presents a model of psychological readiness to resolve autonomy conflicts that may disclose how conflicts are triggered and how they could be resolved within intra- and in interpersonal way.

Results. An analysis of classical and modern research has shown that personal autonomy is appropriated by adolescents through their resolution of conflicts in various areas of the psychological space. Based on the provisions of a number of theoretical approaches, it has been revealed that the core matter of conflicts is the contradiction “external control vs one's own will” and the contradiction “dependence vs independence”. The author proposes studying personal autonomy by drawing insights form psychological readiness of autonomy conflicts resolution using locus of control scale and also through the measurement of actual conflicts of autonomy and assertion as conflict resolution style using existential experience.

The author's vision of the personal autonomy of adolescents is based on the study of psychological readiness to resolve autonomy conflicts at the dispositional level. Conflict as a mechanism of development is a developmental crisis stage where contradictions could be removed. Diversity of classical and modern studies show that the autonomy is developed in adolescents through the resolution of conflicts in different spheres of psychological space. The social cognitive domain theory of J.G.Smetana and the theory of psychological sovereignty (S.K.Nartova-Bochaver) are discussed in detail. According to the theories under consideration, personal autonomy reveals in adolescents to a different degree and at different levels. In some domains, they are more independent, while they do not manifest independence in other psychological domains.

Conclusion. The approach to adolescents’ personal autonomy as autonomy conflict resolution in different psychological domains is described. Autonomy conflict resolution can be controlled or prohibited by close relatives, e.g. parents. The model of psychological readiness of autonomy conflict resolution may disclose how autonomy conflicts are triggered by and be resolved within intra- and in interpersonal way. The contradictions may be removed through autonomy conflict resolution.

Background. Sports activities set high demands on the personal qualities and abilities of athletes, which increases their emotional tension, and negatively affects their self-esteem, self-confidence and motivation. Studying manifestations of the personal emotional sphere of athletes allows choosing effective methods of psychological work to adjust their competitive states up to an optimal level.

The Objective of the research is to learn the specific features of the personal emotional sphere as a regulator of the functional state in young athletes.

Design. The paper analyzes the manifestations of personal emotional sphere of females aged 11-13 years involved in rhythmic gymnastics (N = 20). The results of the relationship and the ratio of the athletes’ personal parameters are presented.

Research Results. A direct significant relationship (p = 0.01) of the anxiety level in athletes with neuroticism, irritability, suspiciousness and sensitivity is revealed. A positive significant relationship (p = 0.01) of guilt and aggressiveness expressed mainly indirectly is established. The obtained features of the relationship of the studied characteristics of young athletes are generally consistent with the results of similar studies performed by other specialists.

Conclusion. The results can be viewed as manifestations of the adaptation mechanisms of young gymnasts in the tense conditions of sports activities, as well as fear of disapproval from a significant circle of people. The revealed emotional-personal characteristics of young sportswomen are probably due to psycho-physiological changes associated with adolescence and the specifics of sports activities. The results of the study generally raise additional questions and allow us to outline areas for further research on the problem under discussion. It is important to study the influence of the emotional state in athletes on the ability to fully recover from intensive physical burnout and follow sleep and rest schedule.

Introduction Informational socializing of modern adolescents influences the form of communication as the main source of development and self-determination as the major developmental factor in adolescence. The investigation of links between personal features and moral values and Internet involvement allows defining the problem of correlations between personal and cognitive component of development and prevent cyberbulling and communication on-line risks.

The Objective of the study is to investigate the correlation between basic attitude and moral values of adolescents and the productivity of cognitive processing of social information on the Internet. The hypothesis of the study is the assumption that adolescents with a positive attitude to the mediated world and a high level of moral values reveal greater productivity of cognitive methods of processing social information obtained on the Internet. One of the goals of the research was to identify the relationship between basic beliefs and the Internet addiction in adolescents.

Methods and sampling. The study used the following methods: 1. Basic Belief Scale by R. Yanoff-Bulman (Kalmykova, Padun, 2002); 2. Methods of diagnosing moral values "Fair-Care" (S. Molchanov, A. Podolsky); 3) the author's method of cognitive assessment of social information on the Internet, based on the Crick and Dodge model (Crick, Dodge, 1994); 4. Method of diagnosing Internet-dependent behavior by S.H.Chen. The population aged 13 to 18 years accounted 175 adolescents (49% males and (51% females).

Results. Three groups of adolescents were different in the nature of basic assumptions and the level of development of moral values optimists, pessimists, and ego-centered pessimists, and Internet addicted. Comparative analysis of the cognitive methods of processing social information on the Internet, as well as signs of Internet addiction was carried out.

Conclusions: The hypothesis that positive attitude to the mediated world and belief that they control life, a high level of moral values associated with more productive cognitive methods of processing social information on the Internet has received confirmation. A group of adolescents identified as “pessimists” (perception of the world as hostile, negative image of themselves, lack of confidence in the world and success, low level of moral values) reveal signs of Internet addiction in behaviour.

Background. The paper deals with understanding success in terms of generation value gap, transitivity and high social uncertainty as a component of self-determination of an individual acquires particular relevance, determining the vector of a person’s personal development.

The Objective of this research is to study the ideas of modern adolescents about success linked with self-esteem and assessment of their own success in significant spheres of life, i.e. education career and interpersonal relations. The study is based on the assumption that the notions of success as self-development will be associated with a higher level of self-esteem and assessment of success in adolescents.

Design. The study involved 500 adolescents (291 girls and 209 young men), students of the 10th and 11th grades of schools and gymnasiums (average age 16 years), Moscow, Russia. To study the ideas of adolescents about success, Adolescent Representations of Success (ARS) questionnaire was developed. To study the self-esteem of adolescents, the method of Dembo-Rubinstein was used in the modification A.M. Prihozhan, as well as a purposefully designed questionnaire to study indirect evaluation of success.

Results Three models of success that characterize the attitude of adolescents to the success are identified: success as social recognition, success as fulfillment of external social requirements, and success as self-development and self-actualization. The differences in the self-esteem of adolescents with different ideas about success are revealed.

Conclusion. The research confirmed the hypothesis and showed that varying perception of success in adolescents is closely related to self-esteem and evaluation of their own success. Understanding success as self-development and self-actualization is associated with a higher level of self-esteem and assessment of own success which promotes psychological well-being in general. Adolescents who share a model of success as fulfillment of external social requirements associate success with achieving goals with overcoming obstacles and satisfaction with results and place value on luck. For adolescents who are focused on the model of success as social recognition it is typical to place value on their personal authority among the peers, thus having high assessment rates of their success as a whole.

Background. Within the conditions of information socialization that is transforming communication and placing high demands on the ability of the individual to search, select, critically comprehend social information for decision-making and carrying out moral choices, a new social situation has developed. The research of the relationship between cognitive methods of processing social information on the Internet and shaping the worldview and ideas about the moral regulation in adolescents makes it possible to study the patterns of personality development in the unity of the cognitive and value-moral spheres.

The Objective of the research is to identify cognitive methods of processing social information on the Internet as a factor of developing a picture of the world in adolescent users with varying degrees of involvement and the risk of Internet addiction and moral regulation of relationship between them.

Hypothesis. Cognitive methods of processing information on the Internet are connected with the level of Internet addiction - a high level of Internet addiction corresponds to the low efficiency of cognitive methods of processing information. These methods influence the emerging system of major beliefs and worldview characteristics, and level of sensitivity to situations of moral choice.

Design. The author’s method of assessing social information on the Internet based on Crick and Dodge model (1994), Chen method for diagnosing Internet-addictive behaviour, «The scale of basic beliefs of the person» of R. Yanoff-Bullman (Kalmykova , Padun, 2002), and the author’s method of assessing moral aspects were used. The study involved 84 adolescents from 13 to 18 years (46% males and 54% females).

Results. A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of cognitive processing cycles was conducted and gender differences were revealed. The relationship between Internet addiction and the effectiveness of cognitive processing methods of information on the Internet is verified. The significance of interpretation, behaviour assessment and the ability to construct social adaptive behaviour in communication to shape the major beliefs and moral attitude in adolescence are shown.

Conclusion. There are differences in the effectiveness of cognitive processing cycles of information. High efficiency of short-term, long-term, medium-term perspectives and behavioural responses and the ability to choose adequate social behavior corresponds to a relatively low productivity of interpretation. Internet addiction is interrelated with the low productivity of interpretation. Moral attitude is mediated by the age features of adolescent self-awareness and is related to the effectiveness of information interpretation, the evaluation of behavioural consequences and the choice of appropriate ways of social interaction.

Background. The high importance of the media as an institution of socializing the new generation in the modern information society is highlighted. Along with positive opportunities created by the media and the Internet for training and education, it is necessary to point to the growing risks associated with the ambiguity of the impact of the media on the mental and psychological health and also child and adolescent development.

The Objective of the paper is to consider the risks of socialization associated with the openness and accessibility of the information space. There are psychological features of   child and adolescent perception of information products containing aggression and violence, information products of sexual content, products that cause fear and anxiety, and also methods used in the media to justify morally antisocial, deviant, aggressive behaviour and violence.

The Results of the analysis allowed to identify the conditions that determine the degree of vulnerability of the child to violence in media and the desire to mimic aggressive behavior and also forms of cognitive restructuring the moral content of aggressive and deviant behaviour.

The negative consequences of perceiving violence expressed in behaviour, emotional state and cognitive image of the world of children are determined. The effects of adolescent perception of information of sexual content are revealed. Age features of experiencing fears in children aged 3-18 years are shown.

Conclusion. Perceiving violence in the information space by children and adolescents creates risks of mimicking aggressive behaviour, fears and increased anxiety, desensitization to phenomena of violence and aggression and distortion of the worldview, when violence is perceived as a compulsory and natural regulation of relations between people in society. Factors influencing the nature of the perception of violence include age factor, individual psychological and personality features, motives and preferences, genre of information products and the context within which violence is depicted.

Background. Digital technologies have long become an integral part of everyday life. Internet and Social Networking Sites (SNS) are considered to be one of the socialization institutions along with traditional school and family.

Objective. The research is concerned with studying the peculiarities of teenagers’ social psychological well-being when using SNS. The analysis aims at revealing the impact of demographic, social stratifying and social psychological factors on the type of adolescent self-performance at SNS, their attitude towards regulations of interaction at SNS, their concern about potential risks and also opinions about the effects of SNS socialization on their personality.

Design. The paper is based on the results of 2074 school-aged adolescent survey conducted in 2016 in Moscow region, Russia.

Results. According to the survey, the adolescent well-being when using SNS depends on the type of their self-presentation. The data showed that affective significance of social networking for adolescents who seek the attention of the strangers produces a negative impact on their emotional well-being: those who refer to their SNS profile as “provocative” are more likely to feel the “addiction to virtual interaction and other’s opinions” – 17.4% (mean 7.1%; p≤ .0004), being disturbed by “more popular profiles” – 21,7% (mean 4.2%; p≤ .00001).

Conclusion. The survey showed that nowadays adolescents deem the SNS as the most important communicative field where the fundamental age-related changes take plaare foundce. The tendency to expand social contacts by means of virtual communication was found to produce negative impact on adolescent personal development and social interaction in real life.

Background. Responsibility as a measure of individual freedom comes only under the condition of freedom of choice and the ability to anticipate and take into account the consequences of acts. Therefore, personal factors play a key role in taking moral responsibility. Scholars have studied the personal bases of responsibility that comprises autonomy, independence, confidence, the locus of control, the motivation to achieve a goal, the level of aspiration. However, the role of the moral self and moral identity in the determination of responsibility is not sufficiently studied. 

Objective. The objective of the research is to study the relationship between the moral identity of the individual and the willingness to accept moral responsibility in adolescence. Proceeding from the general hypothesis about the essential role of moral identity in adopting and actualising themoral responsibility, two specific hypotheses are articulated, specifying the role of values and moral self-esteem in taking moral responsibility. 

Design. An empirical study of adolescents aged 13–17 years was conducted. Subjects are students of educational institutions of general education in Moscow (a total of 314 subjects). The study poses the challenges of studying the readiness to accept moral responsibility by adolescents in the situation of a moral dilemma, the connection of the moral and value orientation of adolescents and the willingness to accept moral responsibility, the connection of self-esteem of moral qualities and the readiness of adolescents to accept moral responsibility. The methodology for assessing moral responsibility in the situation of solving the moral dilemma «Moral Situations from Real Life» (MORS), a modified version of M. Rokich’s method for evaluating value orientations, the method of structured moral self-esteem (A.I. Podolsky, P. Heymans, O.A. Karabanova) are used. 

Conclusion. The results revealed the influence of the participants’ moral dilemma and the nature of the consequences (damage or profit to the participant of the dilemma) on the adolescents’ willingness to accept moral responsibility, as well as the role of moral value orientation in the principle of care and moral self-esteem. It was revealed that the self-esteem of such moral qualities as responsibility, honesty, responsiveness, caring is higher in adolescents, showing a high willingness to accept moral responsibility in a moral dilemma. Moral identity is proved to be a desire to maintain a high positive self-esteem of moral qualities according to the accepted system of values develops the basis of the normative moral self-regulation of the individual.

The role of moral atmosphere(MA) (L.Kolberg) at school in the process of shaping the image of the reference peer in adolescents from the standpoint of the orienting activity theory ofP.Ya.Galperin is discussed. In the context of the developmental psychology approach (L.S. Vygotsky, D.B.El’konin) the moral atmosphere of the school is viewed as a component of the social situation of development (SSR) in adolescence. The construct «the image of the reference peer» (ORF) is considered. The significant personality traits of the ORF as the I-ideal for modern adolescents are revealed on the basis of the typology of personality traits proposed by the authors (skills, communicative, activity, moral, external characteristics), which reflect the importance of self-presentation of adolescents and their focusing on the interpersonal relationships to achieve high intra-group status. The similarities and differences in the ORS of adolescents and their perceptions of the ORS pattern in peers are revealed. The age and gender characteristics of the ORS and ORS image «in peer-eyed» are revealed. The results of empirical study of the perception patterns of school MA by contemporary Russian adolescents are discussed. Differences in the structure of the ORS of adolescents with different perceptions of the school MA were revealed. It is shown that for teenagers with the perception of the MA of the school as democratic, the most important are the communicative and activity personality traits with the significance of moral traits. Adolescents with the perception of the MA school as authoritarian or ambivalent above all appreciate the value of external characteristics and skills and least of all moral traits. The orienting role of the school MA as a system of rules, norms and values of the school community for the formation of the ORS image of a modern teenager in the context of the level model of the orienting activity (A.I. Podolsky) is proved. Keywords: adolescence, image of the reference peer, social situation of development, moral atmosphere

The paper describes the research results of relationship between personal autonomy and responsibility level in adolescence. The theoretical idea of unity of freedom and responsibility can be regarded as link between personal autonomy and level of responsibility in adolescence. The hypothesis of correlation between level of responsibility and autonomy in adolescence is realized. The sample includes 368 school students aged from 13 to 17, Moscow, Russia. The questionnaire to diagnose autonomy defines emotional, cognitive, intellectual and behavioural components of autonomy. The second questionnaire describes the responsibility level using the example of different moral dilemmas. The results of the empirical research describe the hypothesis on the relationship between personal autonomy and level of responsibility. Personal autonomy includes value, emotional, cognitive and behavioural components. Cluster groups with different levels of autonomy are defined: high autonomy, intellectual autonomy, low autonomy and disharmonic type of autonomy. Higher level of a number of autonomy components correlates with higher level of responsibility. Analysis of moral norm deviation shows that type and content of moral dilemma play an important role in responsibility acceptance. Gender differences in level of responsibility is defined in the following way: females show higher level of responsibility than males.

The paper is an attempt to present a new approach to anxiety research, namely to describe social psychological determinants of anxiety in adolescents, and also to present teachers’, parents’ and students’ views on “anxiety-causing” situations in adolescents are compared.

The article presents a brief description of the main concepts related to the subject of anxiety: the interpretation of the phenomenon of anxiety, differences between the concepts of anxiety and fear, causes described by various authors. The author also pays attention to various types of anxiety: situational vs personal, adequate vs inadequate anxiety, anxiety in various fields of human life, and in particular at school.

The paper describes the results of the empirical study devoted to the communicative situations in which adolescents experience anxiety and the estimation of these situations by teachers and parents are presented.

The research is qualitative and consisted of several stages: focused interviews with teachers and then with the adolescents’ parents, focus groups of adolescents (the questionnaire is presented in respective part of the article). The study involved 6 teachers, 6 parents, 15 adolescents aged from 12 to 14 years. Based on the research results the set of situations that cause anxiety in adolescents is identified and the perception of these situations by parents and teachers is analyzed. The article also presents the similarities and differences of the perception of adolescents’ communicative anxiety in the three categories of respondents.

The results of the study show that the interactional situations causing anxiety among adolescents primarily involve social estimation of an adolescent both by peers and adults.

The paper presents the research results that deal with the dependence of individual adolescent autonomy on the characteristics of the social situation of development, i.e. the nature of parent-child relationships and relationships with peers from the perspective of the developmental approach (L.Vygotsky). Non-linear nature of the development and heterochronic components of adolescent autonomy are shown. The highest rates are identified for the evaluative and cognitive components of autonomy, while the lowest ones are identified for emotional components at a fairly low level of behavioural autonomy. Individual autonomy develops functional unity of all the components that form its value-affective and operational-technical component. Advanced development of cognitive autonomy due to the transition to the education and career with elements of self-education is the basis of the formation of behavioural and value autonomy. The latter determines the vector of motivation and sense of identity and consequently also creates conditions for achieving emotional autonomy by adopting self-worth and self-sufficiency. Features of relations with parents and peers in five groups of adolescents, whose individual autonomy level and structure vary, are identified and described.

A relation of autonomy level and its individual components to the nature of the adolescent relationship with parents and peers is identified. The most important parameters for autonomy development are as follows: parent-child relationship as parental control, freedom and autonomy in parent-child relations, cooperation. Relationships with parents and peers play different roles in developing adolescent autonomy. In relations with parents, adolescents get aware of the need for autonomy and motivation. In relationships with peers, the need for autonomy, approbation, role experiments with value choice and decision-making, their behaviour and activities become subjective.

This paper discusses diverse theoretical approaches to the study of adolescent personal autonomy, including psychoanalytic approach (A. Freud, M. Mahler, P. Blos), attachment theory (J. Bowlby, Ainsworth, M. P. Crittenden), self-determination theory (E. Deci and R. Ryan), activity approach (A.N. Leontiev, D.A. Leontiev) and developmental approach (El’konin, T.V. Dragunova, L.I. Bozhovich, G.A. Zuckerman, G.V. Burmenskaya). Analysis of the adolescent personal autonomy has demonstrated the diversity of theoretical approaches and empirical research to explain the phenomenology, mechanisms and conditions of developing the complex personality constructs. The study of modern foreign and Russian research has allowed to analyze the main ways of separating from parents and the role of social context in shaping adolescent autonomy.

The paper describes the structure of adolescent personal autonomy construct. During its operationalization, the necessity of including the moral autonomy as part of the value autonomy in the four-tier personal autonomy is emphasized. The significance of parent-child relationship for developing adolescent personal autonomy is outlined. On the one hand, autonomy is represented as a characteristic of the relationship, i.e. social background, and on the other hand, it is the I-image used by a teenager as pattern in relationships with adults and peers. The paper highlights the benefits of the developmental approach in the research of the personal autonomy and presents how to use the concept of social situation development. The developmental approach that considers the social situation of development as a hierarchy of social contexts that determine the vector and development of the key age-dependent features, opens the opportunity of studying the orienting activity in the system of social and interpersonal relations in the development of personal autonomy.

The present article reports the results of cross-cultural research on the role of sociocultural factors that develop attitudes toward extremism in school students of Moscow, Russia, and Riga, Latvia. Equally, it analyzes various aspects of social activity of adolescents: their attitude to legislative sanctions against extremist activities, a tendency to express various ways of political protest, etc. Special attention is paid to the role of social and cultural factors that determine the specific features of adolescents’ attitude to extremism. We consider such factors as the degree of social distance from extremist organizations or membership of a national majority or minority, etc. The article reports on the relationship between adoption of extremist behaviour and attitudes of aggressive behaviour in various social situations, and in the situation of bullying in particular. In addition, the article presents the results of factor analysis to identify a set of features that determine not only those ones related to extremism, but also the position of the teenagers in the propensity for violence and aggressive behaviour as a way to solve their own conflicts. Also, based on the selected factors, the averaged profiles of teenagers in Moscow (Russia) and Riga (Latvia), who claimed their own relationship with extremist organizations, are shown. The main conclusions of the article can be briefly presented in the following points. In general, negative attitude towards extremism dominates in schoolchildren. It is expressed in personal non-acceptance of extremism. Social environment of teenager affects assessment of various kinds of extremist manifestations. The study revealed significant differences in attitudes toward extremism, depending on the membership of a national minority or titular nation.

Тhe article describes main semantic components of the image of the world of blind teenagers, reconstructed in the empirical study using the method of fluent graduation of lexical items, which were collected as valid worlds for description of an individual system of meanings and relations with other people of teenagers. The results of mathematical analysis based on the algorithm of multidimensional scaling shown the elicitation of a subject’s consciousness categorical structure and different systems of meanings through which teenagers perceive the world.