Life position of mothers and fathers of primary, secondary and high school students
Authors: Sobkin Vladimir S. , Kalashnikova Ekaterina A. 
Published: July 2023

Background. Th e relevance of the study is due to the need of investigating the eff ects of parents’ life orientations on the process of socialization of modern schoolchildren. Objective. Th e study had its task to characterize the features of the relationship between the components of the life position of mothers and fathers raising children in full/single-parent families at diff erent stages of their education. Sample of the study consisted of 302177 parents of 1–11 grade students of general education schools from 85 regions of the Russian Federation. Th e analysis considered the data of 16463 fathers and 285714 mothers (of which 227855 are married women, 57859 are women raising children in a single-parent family). Methods. Parents of primary, secondary, and high school students answered the ad hoc questionnaire relating to three components of their life position: value orientations, assessment of their life prospects success, assessment of subjective signifi cance of certain social threats. Th e data obtained were analyzed taking into account the infl uence of both social stratifi cation factors (completeness/incompleteness of a family) and a child age (grade at school). To identify the features of the relationship between the components of parental life position, the factor analysis procedure was used. Results. Th e study revealed that the most signifi cant life values for parents are health, successful professional activities, achieving fi nancial success, and a happy family life. At the same time, the value of professional realization turns out to be more signifi cant for fathers, whereas realization in family life is more valuable for mothers. As a child grows, the parents actualize the value of professional self-realization while the importance of family life and achieving fi nancial success decreases, and the negative assessments of their future success grow. Th e factor analysis revealed the peculiarities of the life position of fathers and mothers raising a child in complete vs incomplete family: the “principle of complementarity” in full families and the deformation of traditional maternal position of women raising children in single-parent families. Conclusions. Th e study demonstrated the signifi cance of various life values and social threats among parents of children of diff erent school age, which captures the uniqueness of the socio-psychological context of the child-parent relationships in the family(grade at school). To identify the features of the relationship between the components of parental life position, the factor analysis procedure was used. Results. Th e study revealed that the most signifi cant life values for parents are health, successful professional activities, achieving fi nancial success, and a happy family life. At the same time, the value of professional realization turns out to be more signifi cant for fathers, whereas realization in family life is more valuable for mothers. As a child grows, the parents actualize the value of professional self-realization while the importance of family life and achieving fi nancial success decreases, and the negative assessments of their future success grow. Th e factor analysis revealed the peculiarities of the life position of fathers and mothers raising a child in complete vs incomplete family: the “principle of complementarity” in full families and the deformation of traditional maternal position of women raising children in single-parent families. Conclusions. Th e study demonstrated the signifi cance of various life values and social threats among parents of children of diff erent school age, which captures the uniqueness of the socio-psychological context of the child-parent relationships in the family