Relationship Between the Level of Adaptation in the Educational Environment of Higher Education Institution and the Choice of Strategy to Ensure Personal Safety of Students

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of the relationship between the level of adaptation in the educational environment of the higher education institution and the choice of strategy to ensure the personal safety of students. The relevance of the study is due to the lack of scientific works that aim to identify the relationship between the categories considered, as well as the growing need for a sense of personal security in the modern world. Objective. Identify the relationship between the level of adaptation in the educational environment of a higher education institution and the choice of strategy to ensure the personal safety of students. Materials and Methods. The following methodological tools were used to collect empirical data: methodology for diagnosing the level of students’ adaptation to university (M. S. Yurkina and A. A. Smirnov) and the author’s methodology for determining students’ personal security strategies. The author’s methodology is based on the differentiation of personal security strategies into avoidance, negotiation, and action strategies. The sample consisted from the 50 students of Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University of the first and second year of study. The research program included four stages: 1) identifying the personal safety strategies of the students of Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University in the first and second year of study consecutively; 2) determining the level of the adaptation of students of Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University in the educational environment of the university in the first and second year of study consecutively; 3) conducting a comparative analysis of the data on personal safety strategies and the level of the adaptation of students; 4) conducting a comparative analysis of the results of the study in the first and second year of study; 5) conducting a correlation analysis. Results. In the first year, the low level of adaptation was accompanied by the choice of avoidance strategy as a strategy for the personal security of the students. With the increase in the level of adaptation in the educational environment, there is a change in the choice of personal security strategies with the predominance of the action strategy and the negotiation strategy. Discussion. Within the framework of the study, it was found that security strategies change with the growth of the level of adaptation. Prospects for the study of the relationship between the level of adaptation in the educational environment of the higher education institution and the choice of personal safety strategies of students are associated with further study of the direction of this relationship in order to support students in the process of adaptation or in the choice of more productive strategies of personal safety.