Anastasia K. Nisskaya’s research while affiliated with National Research University Higher School of Economics and other places

Background. Children’s and adolescents’ development of autonomy depends on the relationship with their parents and the parents’ child-rearing practices. These might be aimed towards supporting or restricting autonomy, as well as its different aspects, such as independence or volitional functioning. Objective. To compare the practices described by foreign researchers as being the most beneficial for supporting autonomy with those used on a daily basis by Russian parents of primary school children and early adolescents. Design. We conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with 16 mothers and 10 fathers of primary school children (n = 10) and early adolescents (n = 16). Results. The practices of autonomy support and control used by parents were mostly similar to those described in foreign literature. However, new features were found: Guidance, Explanation of Patterns, and “Area of Responsibility”. The behavior of Russian parents can be described through practices specific to different situations. Qualitative research suggests the absence of a unified style of behavior in relation to children’s independence. Two types of autonomy support practices were used: encouraging independence and support for volitional functioning. Encouraging children’s volitional functioning was perceived by parents as something that guides their behavior, yet mention of this practice was much less explicit than mention of encouraging independence. Conclusion. Further reflection is required on the observed situationality of practices – whether it should be assessed as chaotic, hindering autonomy, or flexible, promoting it.

p>This article focuses on the issues of low academic results. Research on the role of children’s early educational experiences highlights the important role of kindergartens, socioeconomic status (SES[1]), cultural capital (CC[2]), and other family characteristics for future educational outcomes. The goal of this paper is to investigate the relationship of SES and CC with academic achievement of children in elementary school, using a sample of 5235 students of the first ( n =2574) and fourth ( n =2661) grades of secondary schools from the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia. The academic results were measured using the “Start” and “Progress” tests; the information about family and educational experiences was collected using family surveys. The results suggest that children with low academic achievement typically reside in in rural areas and mostly come from families with low SES. The results indicated that in the fourth grade, the academic results of the children who didn´t attend a kindergarten are higher than the results of the children who did. Nevertheless, this result refers only to a sample of fourth graders with medium and high academic achievement, coming from families with high SES and CC. These results contradict the findings from Russian and foreign studies on the role of early educational experiences. Therefore, the results from this study should be interpreted with caution and require additional rigorous examination. [1] Socio-economic status includes such indicators as level of education of parents, place of residence, family wealth, etc. [17; 19]. [2] Cultural capital includes social attitudes, values, knowledge and educational qualifications [10].</p