Vanteeva E.V., Sergienko E.A. Dynamics of Behavior Control in the Process of Adaptation of Children to a Day Care Center

Abstract: In this article the subject of the research is the dynamics of behavior control of preschoolers during their adaptation to a day care center. The object of the research is the psychological regulation of behavior during the preschool years. The authors consider the problem of self-regulation. Particular attention is paid to behavior control as a construct being analyzed in terms of the system-subject approach. Behavior control is regarded as a single system that includes three subsystems of regulation (cognitive control, emotional regulation and action control: self-produced actions / will). Thus, behavior control is a type of the overall regulation of behavior including specific resources of a particular person that provides an individual way of adaptation and allows him to overcome life difficulties.  The following techniques have been used in the research: the model of level-organization of the emotional regulation system (in particular the scale of assessment of external regulation methods), the sample "Training Test" by Luria, "Classification of geometric shapes," Wechsler test WPPSI, schemes for observing and analyzing child's behavior, questionnaire for parents and observation map for teachers. The main conclusion of the research is that children have different kinds of adaptation depending on the ratio of individual cognitive, emotional and arbitrary components. Particular dynamics of behavior control components has been observed for children who easily adjust or have difficulty adjusting to a day care center. It is also admitted that particular styles of adaptation reflect individual patterns of behavior control.

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