Personal immaturity or infantilism: mistakes in education. Infantile children What is infantilism

Lack of independence in decision making, voluntary abdication of responsibility, selfishness - this is not a complete list of qualities that distinguish parental infantilism. In its extreme expression, it is very dangerous, as it leads not only to flaws in upbringing, but can also cause serious damage to the health and life of the child.

Manifestations of parental infantilism

By definition, having become parents, people must mature internally, because now they have to raise and develop a little person - their son or daughter, serve as an example for them, provide security, surround them with love and care.

Today, unfortunately, psychologists note the emergence of a phenomenon: the reproductive instinct of young couples is triggered, but the paternal and maternal instincts are delayed. Hence the attitude towards children as living toys. The old expression that “the first child is the last doll” is taken literally in their case.

Mothers like to dress up their children, pose with them in front of cameras and video cameras, parade along the alleys of parks with expensive strollers... But their indifference to children is striking. Not all women talk to them or play with them. They are much more interested in chatting with their girlfriends, maybe even flirting with interesting men, hanging out on social networks. The baby remains left to his own devices.

Another example parental infantilism: Dad, having come home from work and hastily had dinner, rushes not to the child who has been waiting for him all day, but to the computer to play a popular “shooting game” with friends, or to the TV.

I’m not even talking about the children “forgotten” in strollers on the balcony overnight and freezing there: they shouldn’t have stopped their “parents” from watching the movie with their crying! About the kids for whom the “adults” didn’t call an ambulance because they didn’t understand that the temperature can’t always be brought down with paracetamol, and they lost them. Monstrous indifference or inability to calculate the consequences? Probably both.

What is infantilism?

C. G. Jung was the first to speak seriously about this phenomenon. He described the “infanta” as an internally immature personality living in an illusory world. He has enough ideas about himself and life, but he is not ready to make real efforts to achieve happiness. It's better to go with the flow.

Jung substantiated the differences between infantile people and others by systematizing these differences. Here is how they manifest themselves in infantile adults:

• Inability to learn from their mistakes: they don’t understand which rake they stepped on and which ones are “new, untrodden”

• Interest in ready-made recipes. There is a lack of criticism when choosing approaches to education: they try to send the child to all development centers at once, teach him all languages, instill in him a love of dancing and take him to figure skating. And if there were more hours in the day, they would have sent us to music and art schools! And all because they “hang out” on dubious Internet forums and become imbued with “advanced pedagogical ideas that guarantee reliable results”

• The creed of the infantes is “this is how it is accepted.” They don't bother explaining to children why something is allowed or prohibited. They themselves like to imitate someone: “glossy personalities,” a neighbor, a boss. Not to be, but to seem - that is quite enough. They demand this from children too.

• Infants practically do not develop as individuals. Children quickly outgrow them intellectually and morally. Such an imbalance leads to tragic generational conflicts in families where adults “slow down” the development of children

It is dangerous because with it adults do not want to face difficulties face to face, try to avoid them, are afraid to make decisions, look for excuses, and lie. With such a position it is impossible to raise children with an adequate attitude towards life. If a miracle happens, it is not thanks to, but in spite of such “upbringing.”

– a psychopathological condition based on a delay in the pace of emotional and personal development. It is manifested by childishness, immaturity of behavior, inability to make decisions, to make choices independently. Among schoolchildren, gaming interests predominate, learning motivation is weak, and it is difficult to accept rules of behavior and disciplinary requirements. Diagnostics includes clinical and psychological methods and is aimed at studying the characteristics of the emotional-volitional and personal sphere, social relationships, and level of adaptation. Treatment is symptomatic and involves medication, psychotherapy and counseling.

General information

The term “infantilism” comes from the Latin language, meaning “infantile, childish.” Mental infantilism is understood as a discrepancy between behavior, emotional reactions, and volitional functions and age requirements. In everyday life, infantile people are people who are characterized by naivety, dependence, and insufficient knowledge of general everyday skills. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) identifies a separate nosological unit - infantile personality disorder. In addition, mental infantilism is a symptom of neuroses, psychopathy, and reactions to stress. The prevalence among children reaches 1.6%, the ratio of boys and girls is approximately equal.

Causes of mental infantilism

The prerequisites for mental infantilism are pathologies of the nervous and endocrine systems, hereditary predisposition, and improper upbringing. Risk factors include:

• Mild brain damage. Mental infantilism often develops after exposure to unfavorable prenatal, natal and postnatal factors. These include infections, intoxication, trauma, hypoxia, asphyxia.
• Mental disorders . Children with mental retardation, autism, schizophrenia, and mental retardation have a higher risk of mental infantilism. The syndrome is formed on the basis of social maladjustment.
• Hereditary burden. There are genetic and constitutional characteristics that are passed on to the child from the parents. The rate of maturation of cortical structures, metabolic processes, and inertia of the nervous system are factors influencing the formation of infantilism.
• Parenting style. The development of infantilism is facilitated by restriction of the child’s freedom and increased parental control. Mental immaturity is the result of overprotection or despotic upbringing.

Pathogenesis

There are three options for the pathogenesis of mental infantilism. The first is based on the delayed development of the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for the formation of motives, goal-directed behavior, programming, regulation and control of mental activity. The causes are objective factors - trauma, intoxication, infection. The second variant of pathogenesis is general psychophysical immaturity. Developmental delay is detected in the frontal and other parts of the brain. Immaturity is total: the child is miniature, looks younger than his age, behavior matches his appearance. The third option is an artificial delay in socialization by a disharmonious parenting style. The development of frontal functions is inhibited by overprotection, excessive care, and total control.

Classification

Etiologically, the disorder is divided into congenital and acquired. A more detailed classification identifies 4 types of mental infantilism:

1. Organic. Occurs when the central nervous system is damaged. It is the result of traumatic brain injury, asphyxia, infectious disease, intoxication. Mental immaturity is accompanied by a mild psychoorganic syndrome.
2. Somatogenically caused. It is observed in endocrine diseases, chronic debilitating diseases, and damage to internal organs. Mental immaturity is formed against the background of symptoms of the underlying pathology, asthenic manifestations.
3. Psychogenically caused. Develops as a result of pampering upbringing, hyperprotection or despotic attitudes. Another name is psychological infantilism.

Another classification is based on the characteristics of the clinical picture. There are two types of mental infantilism:

• Total. The child is lagging behind in height, weight, physical and mental development. Appearance, behavior, emotions correspond to an earlier age.
• Partial. Mental immaturity is combined with normal, advanced physical development. The child is unbalanced, irritable, dependent on adults.

Symptoms of mental infantilism

Mental immaturity is manifested by a lack of stability of attention, hasty unfounded judgments, an inability to analyze, build a plan, and control activities. Behavior is carefree, frivolous, self-centered. There is a pronounced tendency to fantasize. Understanding and accepting norms and rules is difficult; children often do not understand the concepts of “should” and “shouldn’t”, and do not maintain social distance when communicating with strangers, adults. The inability to assess the situation and change behavior according to external conditions reduces adaptive capabilities.

Children have difficulty adapting to an educational institution and duplicate classes. Often, a preschool child remains in a nursery group, while a primary school student remains in the preparatory group of a kindergarten. There is no mental retardation: patients begin to speak on time, ask questions, draw, sculpt from plasticine, and assemble construction sets in accordance with age standards. Intellectual delay is formed secondarily, on the basis of maladjustment in society, and manifests itself during schooling. The emotional sphere is characterized by instability: the prevailing cheerfulness is sharply replaced by crying and anger when failures occur. Negative conditions pass quickly. There is no purposeful desire to cause harm or revenge. Emotions are unrestrained, superficial, pantomime is lively and expressive. True deep feelings are not formed.

The egocentric orientation of the individual is manifested by the desire to be in the center of attention, to receive praise and admiration from others. With disharmonious mental infantilism, children are perceived by their peers as equals, but communication does not work out. Gradually, isolation arises, exacerbating the hysterical traits of the infantile. Children with total infantilism make friends a year or two younger. Peers show a desire to care and protect. Socialization is more successful than with partial infantilism.

Complications

The main complication of mental infantilism is social maladjustment. It occurs due to the inability to accept social norms, control behavior, and assess the situation. Neurotic and personality disorders are formed: depression, anxiety, hysteroid psychopathy. Lag in emotional development leads to secondary intellectual delay. Concrete-effective and visual-figurative thinking predominates, a tendency to imitative activities when performing intellectual tasks, insufficient focus of mental activity, and weakness of logical memory. Academic failure begins to show up in the middle grades.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of mental infantilism is carried out in preschool and high school age. The reason for turning to doctors is the child’s difficulties in adapting to the conditions, regime, and workload of educational institutions. The examination includes:

• A conversation with a psychiatrist. The specialist conducts a survey: clarifies the symptoms, their duration, severity, features of adaptation to school, kindergarten. Notes the child’s behavioral and emotional reactions: adequacy, ability to maintain distance, maintain a productive conversation.
• Drawing tests. The following techniques are used: “Drawing of a person”, “House, tree, person”, “Non-existent animal”. Infantilism is manifested by the inability to retain instructions, humanization of the animal, simplification of elements (straight trunk, arms) and other signs. The results are informative when examining preschoolers and junior schoolchildren.
• Situation interpretation tests. The methods “RAT”, “SAT”, and Rosenzweig’s frustration test are used. It is typical to perceive situations as playful, humorous, and funny. It is difficult to explain the thoughts and feelings of people in the pictures. The methods are used to examine schoolchildren of various ages.
• Questionnaires. The use of the Leonhard-Smishek character accentuation questionnaire and the pathocharacterological diagnostic questionnaire are widespread. Based on the results, emotional instability and traits of hysteroid and hyperthymic types are determined. The tests are suitable for diagnosing mental infantilism in patients over 10-12 years of age.

The differential diagnosis of mental infantilism is carried out with mental retardation, autism, and behavioral disorders. The difference from mental retardation is the ability for abstract logical thinking, the ability to use help, and transfer acquired knowledge to new situations. The distinction with autism is based on an assessment of social relationships: the child needs them, but has difficulty establishing them. Behavioral disorders have a wide variety of manifestations and progressive dynamics. Mental infantilism can be a prerequisite for psychopathy, a symptom of mental retardation, and autism.

Treatment of mental infantilism

Treatment measures are determined by the causes and form of the disorder. With somatogenic and organic mental infantilism, efforts are aimed at eliminating the underlying disease, with psychogenic - at psychotherapeutic correction. An integrated approach includes:

Prognosis and prevention

Total mental infantilism has the most favorable prognosis: with psychological and pedagogical support, the child gradually becomes independent, active, and shows interest in research and creativity. Symptoms of the disorder disappear by 10-11 years. The disharmonious form of the syndrome requires deeper and longer-term medical and psychological intervention and is associated with the risk of cognitive deficits and psychopathic personality development. The basis of prevention is proper upbringing, parents’ orientation to the child’s current needs, his zone of proximal development. It is necessary to encourage the child to be independent, set an example of adequately experiencing failures, and focus on achieving goals.

The child defends his identity. He wants to preserve his nature, given to him by nature. He wants to be only himself and no one else.

About 150 years ago, doctors first described a special disorder they called mental infantilism. Infantilism (from lat. infantilis- childish) - a delay in the development of the body, in which people retain the features of “childishness” in behavior for a long time. Usually infantilism is not noticeable until the child goes to school; Often adults are touched by the spontaneity and “childishness” of their child. The school immediately highlights this lack of development and mercilessly aggravates it every day. Infantile children are careless, carefree, superficial in their judgments, do not feel any responsibility for their actions, and are unable to restrain their desires. They are very active and restless in class. Shy, touchy, easily suggestible, whiny. Initiative and observant in games, they are passive and indifferent in educational activities. During lessons, they quickly grasp explanations, but think about them little, usually do not finish what they start, and get tired very quickly. The demands of school discipline are often overwhelming for them: they walk around the classroom, talk during class, and show no interest in learning. All this extremely reduces their performance and soon pushes them into the category of those requiring correction.

What are the causes of infantilism? Pathological birth of the mother, frequent illnesses after birth, head bruises, etc. are the most common. They have always operated, but never before have there been so many infantile children as in our days. The point, therefore, is not only in biological disharmonies, but also in social influences and shortcomings in upbringing. Increased tension is pushing our children into early adulthood. To brighten up a childhood that is cruel for many, parents try to compensate for the shortcomings of parental love with one-time and infrequent, and therefore very dangerous, ingratiation, handouts, pleasures, as a result of which development proceeds in spurts, many illogical transitions are made in it, and many gaps remain leading to infantilism. Infantilism also occurs when living conditions are poor and children are rejected by adults. Inconsistency and contradictions in educational influences lead to the fact that children become more mature, but at the same time remain somehow naive and helpless. Among social reasons, feminization of education should be put in first place. Women with their soft character, unique logic, and increased emotionality easily spoil a fragile character. Therefore, boys are more likely to suffer from infantilism than girls. Over time, infantile boys and teenagers more often develop neuroses, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

Infantilism can be harmonious and disharmonious; there are no defined boundaries between them. Most common harmonious infantilism, in which the child behaves according to a younger age. The lag in maturation of the emotional-volitional sphere is usually noticeable until the age of 15, then the differences either smooth out or remain forever. Harmonious infantilism cannot be considered a pathology. It's just delayed development.

Disharmonious infantilism combined with emotional immaturity. A lag in the maturation of emotions (protrusion, exaggeration) is a one-sided hypertrophy of certain character traits. For some, excessive temper comes to the fore, for others - instability and weakness of will, for others - a tendency to fantasize, lie, and make up inventions. In any case, this dramatically disrupts school adaptation. Children suffering from this form of infantilism want to attract attention and rise in their own eyes with their unbridled fantasies.

What else is characteristic of infantile children? The predominance of gaming interests, quick satiety, frivolity, irresponsibility, an insufficiently developed sense of remorse, selfishness, carelessness, optionality, etc. Based on these signs, the teacher will unmistakably identify an infantile child. They act on their first impulse and think little about their consequences. It is difficult for them to delay receiving pleasure, they are impatient, irritable, and touchy. For them, life is all a game, and the hardest thing is the need to behave according to their age. If children have a biological predisposition to such behavior, then it is revealed, intensified, aggravated, and becomes caricatured due to excessive or insufficient parental love, due to improper upbringing.

How to correct infantilism? Corrective influences should go in the direction of forming attention and arousing interest. It is based on specially organized and feasible work, which is combined with special physical exercises. Children are systematically taught to conform their behavior to certain demands. They urgently need a firmly established daily routine, the requirement of its complete implementation.

It is necessary to create a special correctional subgroup for infantile children. Thus, several subgroups can be formed - for first-graders, second-graders, etc. For each age, for one year it is necessary to develop a special program, which should include a set of actions that develop and strengthen emotions, will, and conscious regulation of one’s behavior. It is necessary that the student understands what needs to be strictly followed, and then consciously regulate the schedule of his own activities. The daily routine in these subgroups must be intense and followed strictly.

Having discovered infantile children, the teacher will provide them with all possible assistance. He will establish a solid individual plan for growing up and will overcome his difficult steps together with the child.

Professional advice

Children love to see their successes grow. Make your academic results visible. This could be, for example, a graph on which you and your pet will mark his daily achievements. The final result that should be achieved must be established, and the time to achieve it - a week, a month, a quarter. Here many problems are solved at once: the child knows where he is going and sees how his successes are improving.

Create assignments of varying difficulty. Label them: easy, medium, difficult. Let the students choose the options themselves. Warn them that the work will not be graded.

Create different types of assignments: examples, tasks, riddles, puzzles, puzzles, etc. Give everyone the opportunity to choose what they like best. No grades will be given. The choice of option should signal to the teacher what kind of work the children prefer to do during the lessons.

It happens that we find ourselves involved in some business much more than we wanted. How does this happen? Experiments show that if we want to get significant help from someone, we first need to induce them to do a small favor. For example, when schoolchildren were simply asked to come to school at 7 o'clock. morning, only 24% came. When the schoolchildren were asked to water the flowers and they agreed, they were then told that to do this they needed to be at school at 7 o’clock. morning, 53% came. An initially harmless courtesy later leads to a major concession. Teachers need to understand this dependence well and constantly use it for correctional purposes.

Let's check ourselves

1. What are the causes of academic failure?

2. What reasons can cause developmental delay?

3. Describe a non-standard child.

4. What are the causes of school neurosis?

5. How do you feel about grade-free learning in primary school?

6. List the types of underachieving students.

7. Describe an intellectually undeveloped student.

8. Which children are classified as functionally immature?

9. How to work with weakened children?

10. Which students are classified as systemically behind?

11. What factors determine school maturity and how is it diagnosed?

12. How to correct the teaching of slow-thinking children?

13. What methods exist for correcting underachieving students?

14. What are the advantages and disadvantages of alignment classes?

15. What new solutions to the problem do experts offer?

16. How to detect if a child is behind in school?

17. What methods of correction of the lag are used by teachers?

18. How to develop children's independence?

19. How to develop children's activity?

20. How to improve relationships with struggling students?

21. How to help infantile children?

Let's read more

1. Amonashvili Sh.A. Education. Grade. Mark. M., 1980.

2. Gippenreiter Yu.B. Communication with the child. How? M., 1995.

3. Dobson D. Disobedient child. St. Petersburg, 1995.

4. Volkov IL. There is one goal - there are many roads. - M., 1990.

5. Raising a difficult child. / Ed. M.I. Rozhnova. M., 2000.

6. Games, learning, training, leisure... / Ed. V.V. Petrusinsky. M., 1994.

7. Ivanov IL. Encyclopedia of collective creative works. M., 1989.

8. Lysenkova S.N. When it's easy to learn. M., 1981.

9. Makarenko A.S. Pedagogical works: In 8 volumes. M., 1984. T. 4.

10. Matyukhina M.V. Motivation for teaching of younger schoolchildren. M., 1984.

11. Podlasy IL. Pedagogy of primary school. M., 2000.

12. Sartan G.N. Independence training for children. M., 1998.

13. Soloveichik S.P. Pedagogy for everyone. M., 1987.

14. Shatalov V.F. Support point. M., 1987.

15. Foppel K. How to teach children to cooperate? M., 1998.

16. Shevandrin N.I. Psychodiagnostics, correction and personality development. M., 2000.

Olga Kornienko
Consultation “Mental infantilism”

Nowadays they are quite common infantile children. Conducting psychoprophylactic and psychoeducational work with parents and teachers of senior and preparatory groups, it is necessary to pay attention to this problem. This is especially true for the larger number of parents who believe that if they can read and count, their children are ready for school. Consultation can be held at the beginning of the year for parents of children in the preparatory and senior groups. In the older group I recommend consultation in parallel with consultation“Go to school from 6 or 7 years old”, where the topic of children’s school maturity will be touched upon.

Mental infantilism

Infantilism- developmental delay, preservation in physical appearance or behavior of traits inherent in previous age stages. Outwardly he looks like an adult, but behaves like a child. The term is used both in relation to physiological and psychic phenomena.

INFANTILISM –(from Lat. Infantilis – child)– preservation in the body and psyche human characteristics inherent in an earlier age.

Infantilism- varieties and characteristics.

1. Physiological infantilism. In medicine, the concept " infantilism" denote a lag in physical development, which manifests itself in some people as a consequence of cooling, poisoning or infection of the fetus during Pregnancy, oxygen starvation during childbirth, serious illnesses in the first months of life, metabolic disorders, disturbances in the activity of some endocrine glands (sex glands, thyroid gland, pituitary gland) and other factors. In such people, the growth and development of all physiological systems of the body slow down, which is usually compensated for later.

2. Psychological infantilism. Mental infantilism- immaturity of a person, expressed in a delay in the formation of personality, in which a person’s behavior does not correspond to age requirements for him. The lag is mainly manifested in the development of the emotional-volitional sphere and the preservation of childhood personality traits. It is natural that infantile people are not independent. They are used to others deciding everything for them.

Signs at an early age infantilism, decreases in the level of behavioral motivation are difficult to detect. Therefore o mental infantilism Usually they speak only from school age and adolescence, when the corresponding features begin to appear more clearly.

One of the most important development factors mental infantilism are the parents of a person who do not take the person seriously enough in childhood, replacing the realities of existence with fictitious images, thus separating the person from reality. That is, in human infantilism born normal, the parents themselves may be to blame.

Typical for infantile children are the predominance of gaming interests over academic ones, rejection of school situations and related disciplinary requirements. This leads to school maladjustment, and subsequently to social problems.

However infantile Children are very different from those who are mentally retarded or autistic. They are distinguished by a higher level of abstract logical thinking, are able to transfer learned concepts to new specific tasks, and are more productive and independent. Dynamics of emerging intellectual disability in infantilism characterized by favorability with a tendency to smooth out impairments in cognitive activity.

Simple infantilism should be distinguished from disharmonic, which can lead to psychopathy.

Psychological infantilism of the first type(according to V.V. Kovalev) is based on a delay in the development of the frontal lobes of the brain, caused by the described objective factors and improper upbringing. As a result, the child is delayed in developing an understanding of norms of behavior and communication, and in developing concepts "it is forbidden" And "necessary", feelings of distance in relationships with adults. He is not able to correctly assess the situation, change behavior in accordance with its requirements, and also foresee the development of events and, therefore, possible dangers and threats.

Such children differ from others in their naivety, inability to adapt, and their behavior does not correspond to their age. They often act imprudently, carelessly, not realizing that someone could offend them. At the same time infantile Children are capable of original thinking, feel artistic beauty and music.

Children with a simple form mental infantilism In terms of behavior, they are estimated to be 1-2 years younger than their true age. Mentally infantile the child is very cheerful, emotional, but "not according to age"- a 4-5 year old child resembles a 2-3 year old. He is ready to play and have fun endlessly and encourages his family to play and have fun with him.

And here is the result: infantile It’s time for the child to go to school, but he is not ready for it. But the child turns six and then seven years old, and still has to go to school. Infantile the child encounters independent children of his own age and is at first surprised, and then upset - severely, to the point of hysterical neurosis. Infantile the child is already ready to become difficult.

Immaturity in the second version mental infantilism(harmonic infantilism, according to G. E. Sukhareva) concerns not only mental, but also physical development.

The child not only behaves inappropriately for his age, but at 5 years old he also looks like a 3-year-old. He is small in stature, weighs little, graceful, miniature, but weak and fragile. He evokes tenderness and a desire to protect him. Keeping up with the development of speech and motor skills, he promptly masters all skills and abilities, drawing, counting and reading; he is often musical and emotionally alive, but in him, as in the first variant, the maturation of higher orientation functions is delayed.

Time passes, but the child is not ready to communicate with peers and is extremely dependent.

Such children, when entering school, may experience neurotic reactions and disorders in response to normal educational tasks. behavior: psychologically they are not ready to accept and fulfill school requirements. In the classroom, like preschoolers, they turn any school situation into a game. During the lesson, they can come up to the teacher and cuddle, use educational supplies as toys.

U mentally infantile according to the second option there is no feeling of inadequacy. He accepts himself as he is. Accordingly, he rarely develops neurosis. Mentally infantile According to the second option, the child is not rushed to develop. He will follow his peers, about a year behind them, and will catch up with them by the time he starts school. Physical weakness and short stature are compensated by the development of dexterity. And again we see - education decides everything! By the age of 10-12, children, as a rule, straighten out.

Parents should be wary of the development of a third option mental infantilism. The baby is born mentally and physically healthy, but, protecting him from life, artificially delay his socialization by the egocentric or anxious-suspicious nature of upbringing.

This often happens to parents who have been waiting for their first child for a long time. The whole family can't get enough of the baby! The most interesting children's age is from 2 to 3 years. And parents unconsciously want to keep the child in it and succeed in this. Improper upbringing turns a healthy child into an immature one; the development of the frontal functions of the brain is artificially delayed.

They forgive the child everything and try to make his life path easier. But outside of his home, fate will not treat him so carefully! Parents prone to overprotection think about it: After five and a half years, your child may already be in such a state as if he had brain damage!

What are the signs infantilism, developing according to the third option? Physically the baby is developed absolutely normally, but behaves like child: may interrupt the teacher, endlessly ask to go to the toilet or go home; At home he only strives to play and does not perform household duties. He does not admit refusal in anything, he ignores the condition of his parents. He is capricious, demanding and hysterical, his childishness no longer pleases anyone. With the third option mental infantilism the path to hysterical neurosis is possible.

One of the most striking types of attitude towards a child on the part of loved ones and one of the grossest pedagogical mistakes is placing him on a pedestal.

From an early age, a child with average statistics gets used to the fact that he is adored in any case; his every success is perceived as proof of his talent, superiority over others; every loss is experienced by the whole family; each of his rivals is considered his worst enemy - this is how inflated self-esteem is formed. When faced with reality, a child can experience a real shock.

3. Social infantilism. Social infantilism caused by a violation of the mechanisms of Socialization, under the influence of sociocultural conditions. It can be expressed in young people's rejection of new responsibilities and obligations associated with the process of growing up.

It is possible that the spread of socially conditioned homosexuality in the modern “consumer society” is associated with one of the forms of manifestation infantilism- the reluctance of men to take responsibility for raising children when married to a woman. In this case, in the sexual behavior of such men, there is a repression of sexual feelings, a transfer of normal sexual desire to partners of the same sex, with a corresponding sharp decrease in the volume of necessary mutual obligations, and a decrease in the risk of Psychological problems.

Children's immaturity is emotional immaturity, not mental retardation development: children master speech in normal terms, ask questions, draw, read, count normally, mentally active and even combative.

Mental infantilism represents a lag in personal development, mainly due to shortcomings in education, therefore, adequate pedagogical influence plays a decisive role in overcoming it.

With such development, the emotional-volitional sphere is, as it were, at an earlier stage of development, in many ways reminiscent of the normal structure of the emotional makeup of younger children. Characterized by the predominance of emotional motivation for behavior, heightened background mood, spontaneity and brightness of emotions with their superficiality and instability, easy suggestibility.

The term "mental infantilism syndrome" denote personal immaturity primarily in the area of ​​its emotional and volitional properties, preserving the features of younger childhood. This emotional-volitional immaturity is manifested in the child’s weak ability to subordinate his behavior to the requirements of the situation, the inability to restrain his desires and emotions, childish spontaneity and the predominance of play interests at school age, carelessness, heightened mood and underdeveloped sense of duty, inability to exert volition and overcome difficulties, increased imitation and suggestibility. In addition, these children often have signs of intellectual disability (not reaching the level of mental retardation) in the form of a relative weakness of abstract logical thinking, verbal and semantic memory, a deficit of cognitive activity during learning due to a lack of school interests and rapid satiety in any activity, requiring active attention and intellectual effort, in an effort to be in the company of young children or those who patronize them. The lack of “school maturity” and interest in learning from the first days of attending school distinguishes these children from other first-graders, although signs of their mental immaturity are detected even in preschool age in the form of instability of active attention, rapid satiety, insufficient differentiation of interpersonal relationships, slower mastering the skills and knowledge about the world around us.

Syndromes of mental infantilism can be classified as a group of behavioral disorders, however, due to the lack of clearly expressed asociality in their manifestations, they are separated into a separate group.
The syndrome of mental infantilism, like the asthenic syndrome, is heterogeneous both in terms of the reasons for its occurrence and in its clinical characteristics, as well as in the degree of expression of the various components of its structure and in the dynamics of subsequent development, which depends on both external and internal factors. This syndrome is considered, as a rule, within the framework of “arrested development” (M.S. Pevzner, G.E. Sukhareva, K.S. Lebedinskaya, etc.) and “borderline intellectual disability” (V.V. Kovalev), which in general, it is much more common than mental retardation itself.
One of the variants of delayed development is the syndrome "general" or “harmonic” mental infantilism, which is characterized by a relatively proportional combination of mental and physical immaturity (another name is “simple”, “uncomplicated infantilism” - according to V.V. Kovalev).
Children with this type of mental infantilism are distinguished by relative mental alertness, curiosity, and interest in the world around them. Their play activity is quite active and independent, they have a vivid imagination and fantasy, fully developed speech and the ability to be creative. Their emotional manifestations are relatively differentiated.
At the same time, these children have signs of general immaturity: stunted growth; body type typical of younger people; children's plasticity of facial expressions and motor sphere.
The dynamics and prognosis of children with “harmonic” infantilism are ambiguous. In some cases, when such a delay in mental development is of a family nature (and therefore is often called the “constitutional form” of mental retardation), school difficulties are temporary in nature with subsequent leveling off. In others, with increasing school gaps, pubertal changes and unfavorable external circumstances, often associated with difficulties of social adaptation, there is a violation of “harmony” and the appearance of pathocharacterological personality traits of an unstable or hysterical type. More often this happens when the “infantile constitution” is formed on the basis of metabolic and trophic disorders associated with prematurity, low birth weight, as well as with frequent or long-term, but relatively mild, diseases at an early age against the background of reduced immunity. The likelihood of such development requires the implementation of appropriate preventive measures at different age stages of development of these children.
Emotional-volitional characteristics somatogenic infantilism are caused by long-term, often chronic, diseases of the respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other body systems of a developing child. Constant physical fatigue and mental exhaustion, as a rule, make active forms of activity difficult, contribute to the formation of timidity, inhibition, increased anxiety, lack of self-confidence, fears for one’s health and the lives of loved ones. At the same time, such personality qualities also develop under the influence of hyperopia, the regime of prohibitions and restrictions under which the sick child finds himself.
Most often among low-performing schoolchildren there are children with various options complicated mental infantilism, which are characterized by a combination of signs of mental infantilism with other, unusual psychopathological syndromes and symptoms. These include “disharmonious infantilism” (Sukhareva G.E.), “organic infantilism” (Gurevich M.O., Sukhareva G.E.), “cerebrasthenic”, “neuropathic” and “disproportionate” variants of mental infantilism (Kovalev V. .V.), “endocrine variant of mental infantilism” (Sukhareva G.E.) and “psychogenically caused mental infantilism” (Lebedinskaya K.S.).
At disharmonious variant of mental infantilism signs of emotional-volitional immaturity, characteristic of any type of infantilism, are combined with unstable mood, egocentrism, immoderate needs, increased affective excitability, conflict, rudeness, deceit, a tendency to fiction, boastfulness, increased interest in negative events (scandals, fights, accidents, accidents, fires, etc.). Along with this, signs of instinctual disorders are often found: early sexuality, cruelty towards the weak and defenseless, increased appetite and other behavioral disorders.
With the onset of adolescence, the character traits described above and associated violations of social behavior often intensify, while the traits of childishness, on the contrary, recede into the background. Character traits characteristic of an unstable personality type begin to appear: carelessness, superficiality in communication, inconstancy of interests and attachments, the desire for frequent changes of impressions, aimless wandering around the city, imitation of antisocial behavior, absenteeism and refusal to study, use of alcohol and psychodependent drugs, sexual promiscuity, passion for gambling, theft, sometimes participation in robberies. Despite frequent warnings about possible punishments and endless promises to improve, the described phenomena tend to be repeated. The structure and age-related dynamics of this variant of mental infantilism make it possible in some cases to attribute it to prepsychopathic states of an unstable, hysterical or excitable type.
At organic infantilism signs of emotional-volitional immaturity of a child/adolescent are combined with a “psycho-organic syndrome”. In other words, personal immaturity, manifested by childish behavior and interests, naivety and increased suggestibility, inability to exert volition in activities that require attention and patience, is combined with the “organic component” of infantilism, which manifests itself in less vivid emotional liveliness and flattened emotions of children, poverty imagination and creativity in their gaming activity, some of its monotony, a heightened (euphoric) mood, ease of entering into conversation, and unproductive sociability, impulsiveness, actions of insufficient criticism of their behavior, low level of aspirations and little interest in evaluating their actions, easy suggestibility, greater motor disinhibition, sometimes with affective-excitable reactions.
Domestic child psychiatrists called this variant of organic infantilism "unstable", while the other, characterized by indecision, timidity, weakened initiative and reduced mood background - "slow".
Numerous studies of children with the syndrome of “organic infantilism” give reason to consider it as one of the manifestations of the long-term consequences of organic brain damage that occurred in the early stages of the child’s development. This is evidenced, in particular, by the symptoms of cerebrastia: the paroxysmal nature of headaches; fluctuations in the level of performance not only during the week, but also during one day; instability of the emotional background of the mood, poor tolerance of weather changes, as well as deficiencies in the development of motor coordination, especially fine movements, reflected in handwriting, drawing and delayed skills in tying shoes and fastening buttons.
In the absence of timely medical, psychological and pedagogical assistance, these children experience increasing school failure and pedagogical neglect, behavioral disorders against a background of unstable mood and increased affective excitability.
Thus, the group of organic infantilism is not only clinically, but also prognostically heterogeneous. Its dynamics reflect the degree of intellectual disability of the child, as well as the influence of internal and external factors of adolescence.
Cerebrasthenic variant of mental infantilism manifested by a combination of infantile personality traits with cerebrasthenic syndrome, which is manifested by severe mental exhaustion, instability of attention, and emotional irritability; capriciousness, impatience, restlessness and a number of somato-vegetative disorders: sleep, appetite, vegetative-vascular disorders. In some cases, the subsequent dynamics of this variant of infantilism are favorable: many of the phenomena characteristic of it are smoothed out and even disappear; in others, within the framework of existing accentuation, asthenic personality traits and even asthenic psychopathy are formed.
At neuropathic variant mental infantilism is combined with signs characteristic of neuropathy syndrome, which from an early age is manifested by increased timidity, inhibition, heightened impressionability, inability to stand up for oneself, lack of independence, excessive attachment to the mother, difficulty adapting to new conditions. This development of the child’s character traits is facilitated by inferior regulation on the part of the autonomic nervous system, which causes neuropathic disorders in the form of shallow sleep, decreased appetite, dyspeptic disorders, apparently causeless fluctuations in body temperature, frequent allergic reactions, increased perception of external stimuli, and a tendency to frequent colds.
In unfavorable conditions of upbringing and education in such children, asthenic traits are formed within the framework of an inhibited variant of pathocharacterological development of personality or psychopathy of the asthenic type.
Disproportional option complicated mental infantilism has been described in children and adolescents with chronic disabling somatic diseases. Here, manifestations of emotional and volitional immaturity characteristic of mental infantilism - naivety, childish spontaneity, easy suggestibility, satiation - are intertwined with signs characteristic of children with partial acceleration - the predominance of intellectual interests over playful ones, prudence, an abundance of “adult” expressions, turns of speech and manners, with a childish, serious expression on his face. Apparently, the signs of “adulthood” are formed in them by a combination of “intellectualizing” upbringing, conditions of isolation from communication with healthy children and the individual’s reaction to their illness, as well as awareness of the limitations of life prospects. The described disharmony not only persists with age, but often intensifies, transforming into personality traits characteristic of mixed, “mosaic” psychopathy.
At endocrine and cerebral-endocrine infantilism the clinical picture of emotional-volitional immaturity is combined with manifestations of one or another endocrine psychosyndrome (K.S. Lebedinskaya).
For example, in children with delayed and underdevelopment of the sexual sphere (hypogenitalism, often with obesity), mental infantilism is combined with lethargy, slowness, lack of initiative, absent-mindedness, and inability to mobilize oneself and concentrate on the most important, urgent things. Such adolescents have physical weakness, motor clumsiness, a tendency to unproductive reasoning, a slightly lowered mood, a feeling of inferiority and an inability to stand up for themselves. As most adolescents physically mature, the features of mental infantilism and manifestations of psychoendocrine syndrome can be smoothed out.
Mental infantilism with pituitary subnanism (pathology of the pituitary gland) is manifested in children and adolescents by a kind of “non-childish solidity” of behavior (“little old people”), a penchant for teaching, a desire for order, thriftiness and frugality. These psychological characteristics are in harmony with the old-fashioned appearance. Along with the features of apparent “psychological maturity”, there is increased suggestibility, lack of independence, naivety of judgments about the world around us and relationships between people, emotional-volitional instability and increased lability of mood, characteristic of other variants of mental infantilism.
School failure in children with endocrine variants of mental infantilism is usually due to weakness of willpower, low cognitive activity, weakness of attention and memory, and low level of abstract logical thinking.
Psychogenic variant of mental infantilism usually considered as one of the types of abnormal personality development, formed under conditions of improper upbringing or a chronic traumatic situation.
For example, hypoprotection and neglect usually contribute to the immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere of the child, the formation of impulsivity and increased suggestibility, combined with a limited level of knowledge and ideas necessary for successful learning at school.
With “greenhouse” education, mental infantilism is combined with egocentrism, extreme lack of independence, mental exhaustion and inability to exert volition. In addition, children raised as a “family idol” are distinguished by their inability to take into account the interests of others, vanity, and a thirst for recognition and praise.
On the contrary, with the despotic upbringing of children, using threats, physical punishment and constant prohibitions, emotional-volitional immaturity is manifested in extreme indecision, lack of one’s own initiative and weak activity. This is often accompanied by a lag in cognitive activity, underdevelopment of moral attitudes, clear interests and moral ideals, poorly developed needs for work, a sense of duty and responsibility, and the desire to achieve one’s basic needs. A relatively satisfactory ability to generalize, the ability to use help in solving abstract logical problems, and good orientation in everyday issues sometimes make it possible, when providing timely psychological and pedagogical assistance to these children, to neutralize the risk of social disadaptation. In the absence of such help, the above-mentioned psychological attitudes and emotional-volitional personality traits can become sources of development of various forms of deviant behavior, including refusal to attend school, vagrancy, petty hooliganism, theft, alcoholism, etc. (Kovalev V.V.).
Along with the syndromes of mental infantilism described above, in each case representing an integral complex of interrelated symptoms, there are also other mental developmental disorders that reveal certain features of mental infantilism that do not determine the entire mental appearance of the child, but accompany psychopathy, mental retardation, and residual effects of early childhood development. organic brain damage and schizophrenia.
Differential diagnosis of various variants of mental infantilism serves not so much to determine the mental status of a child/adolescent at the time of examination, but to select ways of its individual psychological and pedagogical correction, taking into account possible dynamics and social prognosis, as well as reasoned preventive work with the child’s parents and educators.
Let us emphasize once again that mental infantilism syndromes could be classified as behavioral disorders, but are separated into a separate group, which, being a risk group for disorders of social behavior, does not always confirm this forecast.