PREPAREDNESS TO FAMILY LIFE AMONG STUDENTS LEFT WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE: EMPIRICAL EXPERIENCE
The article deals with the social and pedagogical phenomenon of preparedness to family life. The authors emphasize the leading role of family in preparing young people to the future family life and forming their responsible attitude to starting their own families. Special attention is paid to the group of students who were left without parental care and stayed at orphanages. The paper emphasizes the factors provoking distorted perception of family and incorrect understanding of social roles among this category of students. The authors present empirical data in studying preparedness to family life among university students left without parental care using the following criteria: cognitive criterion, value and motivational criterion, emotional criterion, and operational and activity criterion. Based on the diagnostics data, the authors affirm the necessity of forming preparedness to family life among this category of students on the basis of a specially developed program. The program aims at forming family values; expanding the knowledge about family, laws of its development, family etiquette, and gender psychology; promotion of successful experience of family life and education; interaction of education subjects in developing family and moral values and responsible attitude to being a parent.