Socio-psychological adaptation of children of labor migrants in the conditions of preschool educational institutions

In the modern world, labour migrants come to developed countries with their children, including children of preschool age, in search of better jobs. It is children who are most vulnerable in the framework of the migration process as they need to adapt to life in a new multicultural environment. Today, in fact, there is absence of fundamental developments aimed at solving difficulties of an adaptation process for children of labour migrants who have insufficient experience in constructive sociopsychological interaction and are involved in building image representation systems of significant others and of their own selves. The paper presents results of an empirical study implemented on the basis of preschool educational institutions of the Penza region in which 120 children of labour migrants participated between the ages of 6–7 years. Authors conclude that children of labour migrants are the most vulnerable social group in need of psychological support. Most pronounced destructive impact on a pre-schooler’s personality is expressed in a child-parent relationship. As main effects of a maladaptive behaviour of children from migrant families we can highlight: expressed anxiety, decreased self-esteem, neurotic reactions in social interaction, identification inconsistency, reduced social activity, intolerance of otherness and constant stress due to expectations of failure. Most children from migrant families express decreased or low self-esteem. The nature of a parent-child relationship is expressed in a collective image of a parent, in particular the image of the mother, and acts as an indicator of well-being / dysfunction of a child’s personal development, his attitude to the world and his own self.