Measuring levels of student dislocation 2023/24 -program (adT)

Measuring levels of student dislocation 2023/24 – program (adT) Onno Hansen-Staszyński & Beata Staszyńska-Hansen, 2024 Introduction Currently, there is great concern for the state of adolescent mental health. Our program Akademia Dynamiczna Tożsamość/ Dynamic Identity Academy (adT) aims to improve adolescent mental health by providing innovative didactics, instruments, and lesson plans to supervising teachers. The (adT) instruments were an explicit inspiration for the European Commission Guidelines for teachers and educators on tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy through education and training (pdf) and the Final report of the Commission expert group on tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy through education and training (pdf). In order to avoid introducing the instruments in the blind, the program (adT) provides diagnoses on the state of adolescent dislocation. Below you’ll find the results from the edition 2023/24. Dislocation Bruce Alexander defines dislocation as a lack of psychosocial integration. Psychosocial integration, according to him, „reconciles people’s vital needs for social belonging with their equally vital needs for individual autonomy and achievement” (B. Alexander, 2008, p.58). Why is dislocation important? Dislocation is a precondition for substance addiction (B. Alexander, 2008) and many other pathologies inspired by „pills, gang leaders, extremist religions, or violent political movements” (B. Van der Kolk, 2014, p.351). The reason: „dislocation ... is excruciatingly painful” (B. Alexander, 2008, p.85). It is thus understandable that those dislocated look for „anybody and anything that promises relief” (B. Van der Kolk, 2014, p.351) and change their lifestyle. Measuring the level of dislocation, therefore, presents an insight into the level of risk of individuals embracing pathologies. Our measurements concepts Our measurements take place at schools. Since schools permanently measure ‘achievement’ we decided to focus on ‘autonomy’ and ‘belonging’. ‘Autonomy’ we conceptualized as ‘attitude toward oneself’ (as a separate individual) and ‘attitude toward new and challenging situations’ (as an individual with agency in the external world - inspired by Carol Dweck). ‘Belonging’ we conceptualized as ‘attitude toward others in communication’ and ‘integration in one’s (pro-social) social surroundings’ (inspired by classic prophylactics). Form of measurements We chose to focus on self-reporting by high school students in their first year since the outcomes of the measurement could help school psychologists, school pedagogues, and (supervising) teachers personalize their services for the next years of student attendance. Each subconcept was translated into multiple statements. Students were asked to indicate for each of 35 statements (attitude toward new and challenging situations – 10; attitude toward oneself – 8; attitude toward others in communication – 8; integration in one’s social surroundings - 9) to what extent they agree, from ‘1’ (very much don’t agree) to ‘5’ (very much agree): Likert-5. The statements were either positive (indicators of less dislocation) or negative (indicators of more dislocation) to avoid repetitive answers inspired by student routine or boredom. Students involved During school year 2023/ 2024 students in 8 classes in 1 general public high school in Gdańsk, Poland, took part in one round – in contrast to earlier years when there were three rounds (N=119). Student participation was non-anonymous and occurred on a voluntary basis. The outcomes of the measurement are presented below. Attitude toward new and challenging situations On average, students’ attitude toward new and challenging situations is just over the threshold for being labeled ‘neutral’ (value: 2.603, the threshold for neutral: 2.6). Of the students, 42% had a negative attitude toward new and challenging situations, and 1.7% had a positive attitude. Attitude toward oneself On average, students' attitude toward themselves is just over the threshold for being labeled ‘positive’ (value: 3.44; threshold for positive: 3.4). Of the students, 16.8% had a negative attitude toward themselves, and 56.3% had a positive attitude. On the level of crucial individual statements, 22.7% indicated not accepting themselves, 54.6% that they have no faith in their own skills, and 69.7% that they mean nothing. Attitude toward others in communication On average, students’ attitude toward others in communication can be labeled ‘neutral’ (value: 2.77). Of the students, 33.6% had a negative attitude toward others in communication, and 11.8% had a positive attitude. Integration in one’s (pro-social) social surroundings On average, students’ integration in their social surroundings can be labeled ‘positive’ (value: 3.66). Of the students, 1.7% indicated that they aren’t integrated in their social surroundings, while 64.7% indicated that they are well integrated. On the level of crucial individual statements, 54.6% indicated that they felt that they live in social isolation, 8.4% that they do not have at least one peer with whom they can talk honestly, and 18.5% that they do not have at least one adult with whom they can talk honestly. 4.2% of the students indicate that they have neither a peer nor an adult with whom they can talk honestly. 1.7% of the students indicate feeling lonely and having neither a peer nor an adult with whom they can talk honestly. Discussion The results are very similar to the outcomes of our measurements in 2021/22 and 2022/23. The interpretations regarding these measurements seem still valid. Shortcomings The measurements were implemented far from ideal: Student participation was voluntary; thus there was a selection bias and not necessarily the same students participated over the three rounds in one year; also the number of participants varied heavily between rounds; Student participation was non-anonymous; this probably has led to a bias; Student instruction by teachers varied: some teachers were highly motivated, others weren’t; The data analysis took place non-automatedly; this has led to limitations to the depth of analysis. The results presented in this text, therefore, need to be taken as indicators and stimuli for further discussion only. Literature quoted Bruce Alexander (2008), The globalization of addiction. Bessel Van der Kolk (2014), The body keeps the score. Acknowledgements We thank all students, teachers, school directors, and school psychologists and school pedagogues who made the measurements possible. Contact Onno Hansen-Staszyński E: onno@ezzev.eu