Psychological Prevention Mechanisms of Minors’ Deviant Behavior

Abstract

The article is devoted to a very topical social problem of contemporary Russian society –
the prevention of deviant behavior among children and teenagers. The theoretical and
methodological analysis of approaches to the prevention of minors’ deviant behavior is
presented in the article. Psychological mechanisms of their implementation have been
identified and the data of their effectiveness evaluation have been given. The leading
approach to the study of this problem was a content-analysis (the method of qualitative –
quantitative analysis of the documents’ content for the purpose of revealing various facts
and tendencies reflected in these documents), the phenomenological analysis of domestic
and foreign literature, Internet survey of students and their parents, the monitoring of the
state of preventive work in educational institutions. The use of these approaches and
methods in the course of our study provided validity, reliability and authenticity of the
data obtained. The conclusions have been drawn that the subject-oriented approach can
be offered as the most effective in preventive work which is directed towards the
formation of students’ subjective attitude to deviant behavior and risks provoking such
behavior. Besides, conclusions have been made that the mechanisms of personal
resources’ activation and subject’s responsibility should become the main in preventive
work organized in educational institutions. The materials of the article are of practical use
to psychologists, social workers and staff members of special and educational institutions.