Fatikhova, L.F.

Background. The technique “Emotional Attitude to Dangerous Situations” developed by the authors could become one of the tools for identifying the ability of adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities to behave safely, assessing the effectiveness of correctional and educational work on the development of safe behaviour, and also supplementing the ideas of the psychology of safety of various social groups with knowledge about the manifestations of safe behaviour of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Objectives. The focus is on the development, testing and validation of the method Emotional Attitude to Dangerous Situations designed to study teenagers and adolescents with intact or impaired intelligence.

Study Participants. The adaptation of the technique was carried out on a sample of 117 students with intellectual disabilities: 71 adolescents (М = 12.8 years, SD = 0.82 years, 42 boys and 29 girls), 46 youth students (М = 16 years, SD = 0.5 years, 30 boys and 16 girls).

Methods. The “Emotional attitude to dangerous situations” method consists of 13 problematic situations reflecting the most probable dangers for students: dangers of the physical, social, informational and educational environment. To assess the reliability of the method, the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was used for each of the selected scales. To assess the criterion validity of the method, the correlation coefficient between the scales of emotional assessment of a dangerous situation and the way of behaviour in a dangerous situation (the “Emotional attitude to dangerous situations” technique) and the indicators of reaction types to dangers (Questionnaire for identifying the type of attitude to danger) was used.

Results. The technology “Emotional attitude to dangerous situations” has been developed. The results of standardization of the methodology, assessment of reliability and criterion validity are presented. The values of the selected scales according to Cronbach’s α showed a sufficient level of consistency (from 0.536 to 0.697). Significant interrelations of the scales of emotional assessment and behaviuor in dangerous situations (dangers of the physical, social, information and educational environment) with the types of response to dangers (adequate, uncertain, anxious, ignoring) in adolescent and young adult students with intellectual disabilities have been established.

Conclusions. The results of the psychometric assessment allow us to speak about a sufficiently high reliability, internal consistency of the scales in the sample, as well as the criterion validity of the developed method. The developed method can be used to identify the emotional attitude to dangerous situations and the way of behaviour in them of adolescents and young adults with intellectual impairments.

Relevance. Children’s safe behaviour is one of the conditions for keeping them safe and sound, healthy and socially integrated, as this is the top-priority objective of the contemporary society. Teenagers are one of the most vulnerable age groups. They are frequently endangered because they show higher rates of careless behaviour. Teenagers with impaired intellectual development having this behavioural tendency cause a lot of concern in both their parents and the entire community.

Objective. The research is aimed at studying safe behaviour in teenagers with unimpaired and impaired intelligenge. The research aims to define peculiarities and differences in these teenage groups in situations that appear threatening to their lives, heath or social well-being.

Methodology. The study involved 109 parents of teenagers aged 12–15. 46 parents are parents of children with unimpaired intellectual development (19 girls and 27 boys). 63 parents had teenage children with impaired intellectual development (35 boys and 28 girls). A questionnaire was offered.

Results. The researchers arranged a poll among the parents and obtained data on how safe behaviour is formed in teenagers with impaired intellectual development compared to their peers with unimpaired intelligence. The findings show difference in behavioural patterns of teenagers with impaired and unimpaired intelligence in such situations as crossing a street, handling electric appliances and sharp cutting tools, acting during outdoor leisure and using gadgets. Additionally, the study defined gender differences in teenage boys’ and girls’ behavioural patterns when facing dangerous dogs, arguing or fighting and even during outdoor leisure.

Conclusions. The findings reveal the justification basis for different approaches to how to form the culture of safe behaviour in teenagers, if they have or do not have impaired intellectual development or if they belong to different sexes.