Savchenko E. Formation of psychological boundaries of adolescents’ personalities in the families with different parenting styles

In this dissertation a theoretical generalization and solution for such a scientific problem as the formation of psychological boundaries of adolescents’ personalities in the families with different parenting styles is carried out. With reference to the approaches currently available in general psychology, in psychoanalysis, in couple and family psychology, in pedagogical and developmental psychologies, and in virtue of the analysis of foreign and national literature, the theoretical and methodological background to studying the issue of internal and external psychological boundaries, their properties and functions are determined in the dissertation. The scientific novelty of the study is as follows: a) for the first time it is justified why the adolescence is one of the sensitive periods for the formation of psychological boundaries of personality (along with the periods of early infancy and pre-school childhood); b) the functions of psychological boundaries which provide their certain constitutional features are systematized; c) the role of interiorization of parent-child relationships in the development of the external and internal psychological boundaries of adolescent is clarified; d) it is specified that psychological defenses mediate the properties and functions of psychological boundaries; e) it is clarified how features of external and internal psychological boundaries of the adolescent’s ego are related to the styles of parent-child relationships; f) the idea of the properties and functions of external and internal psychological boundaries is further developed. The theoretical relevance resulted from the fact that: the concepts of external and internal psychological boundaries or ego-delimitation as the ego-contour supporting the form of the ego are developed; the factors which determine the levels of personal organization of adolescents are systematized; the principles on the relationship between psychological boundaries and psychic defense systems are defined. The practical relevance of the findings involves the development of a program for psychoanalytic training on the formation of a harmonious system of internal and external psychological boundaries of participants, which included group classes (100 hours) and individual work with adolescents (30 hours of individual meetings with each adolescent participating in the training). Psychoanalytic training can be used both for the work of school psychologists with middle and high school pupils, and for the practical work of psychotherapists of psychoanalytic orientation in group work with adolescents.