Doerfel-Baasen D, Raschke I, Rauh H, Weber C
Freie Universität Berlin, Universität Potsdam.
Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 1996 Mar-Apr;45(3-4):111-23.
Adaptation to school of two samples of children (45 from East and 43 from West Berlin) grown up in two different political systems until the "Mauerfall" was studied over the first two school years using information from teachers in school and kindergarten, parents, and the children themselves. Cluster analysis revealed 3 patterns of adaptation behavior: the first subgroup (61% of the sample) showed no problems at all, for a second subgroup (22%) teachers reported more adaptation difficulties, whereas the third subgroup (17%) was rated by their mothers as distractible, hard to motivate and less sociable. Sex differences turned out to be more significant than political-system differences. Adjustment patterns to school were also related to the child's quality of attachment, to the reported number of stressful life events happened to the family, as well as to mother's and teacher's existential anxiety.