Psychosocial Paradigm of Ethnosocial Adaptation of Children from Migrant Families Process Support

Abstract

Migration processes are accompanied by problems in both the political and economic spheres of host countries and the psychological, psychosocial and social well-being of migrants themselves. Children and adolescents become susceptible; their protest behaviour hampers their personal development and adaption to the new environment. This raises the issue of examining the conditions and mechanisms for maintaining effective adaptation of children. The research aims at identifying the difficulties of ethnocultural adaptation of migrant children and to rationalizing psychosocial work with them. There were applied the theoretical and methodological analysis and written and oral interviews to identify the features of adaptation to living in Russia. One revealed a low level of ethnocultural adaptation of adolescents from the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus, which is caused by poor command of Russian; lack of motivation to use two languages (Russian and native) among close relatives in the family environment; lack of motivation and determination to learn the culture, customs, and traditions of the Russia people; a cultural conflict that impedes interaction with the local population. The research substantiates the need for developing a model of psychosocial support for adaptation of migrant children by specialists of educational, social and national organizations.