Adaptation of the First-Year Students to University Environments: Integral Criteria

摘要

Students' adaptation to study at a university may be accompanied by a strain of adaptation mechanisms. Numerous monitoring studies conducted at the stage of students' adaptation to study at a higher educational institution indicate that their morphofunctional and mental state, the success of their studies depend on many factors, including gender, ethnic and national affiliation, place of residence, physical activity. The purpose of the study is to evaluate those factors contributing to the successful adaptation of the first-year students studying at the Natural-Technological Faculty of the South Ural State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University (Chelyabinsk, Russia) in the dynamics of the academic year, relying on a set of integral indicators of physical health. The study involved 56 first-year students. Indicators of physical development (length and body weight, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, vital capacity) were determined using standard techniques. Based on the obtained anthropometric data, the integral indices of physical health were calculated, namely the vital index, Robinson index, or double product, Kerdo vegetative index. The functional reserves of the cardiovascular system were determined by calculating the adaptive potential according to R. M. Bayevsky (1979). An analysis of the dynamics of integral indicators of physical health showed ambiguous changes in the functional state of the cardiorespiratory system. The authors indicated cases of students' successful adaptation relying on the values of such indicators as the vital and Kerdo vegetative indexes. More than that, the number of students with signs of decreased functional reserves and impaired regulation of the cardiovascular system (Robinson index) has increased. According to the dynamics of adaptive potential values, negative changes were observed among young men, increasing the risks of strain in adaptation mechanisms.