A. Mecheril’s scientific contributions

The study presented here is situated on the borderline between pedagogical psychology and research on migration. Proceeding from the model of acculturation developed by J.M. Berry (1997), the authors examine the impact of migration on the personality and character formation of elementary school children from the former GDR and of evacuee children from the territory of the former Soviet Union in comparison with native school children. The results point towards an accelerated drop in the school-related self-confidence and a short-term interruption of the age-related process of personality stabilization of migrant children as compared to non-migrants of the same age. Furthermore, the patterns of the relation between affective student characteristics grades, and achievement tests show that the grading of evacuee children does not correspond with their actual achievements but, rather, turns out more in their favor.

The study presented here is situated on the borderline between pedagogical psychology and research on migration. Proceeding from the model of acculturation developed by J.M. Berry (1997), the authors examine the impact of migration on the personality and character formation of elementary school children from the former GDR and of evacuee children from the territory of the former Soviet Union in comparison with native school children. The results point towards an accelerated drop in the school-related self-confidence and a short-term interruption of the age-related process of personality stabilization of migrant children as compared to non-migrants of the same age. Furthermore, the patterns of the relation between affective student characteristics grades, and achievement tests show that the grading of evacuee children does not correspond with their actual achievements but, rather, turns out more in their favor.