Field dependence/independence of school students at different stages of society digitalization: A meta-analysis

Introduction. The beginning of the 21st century saw a rapid development of digital technology that radically changed the living environment of modern people. Digitalization entered—quickly and on a large scale— the life space of both adults and children, which subsequently had a significant impact not only on all spheres of human activity, but also on the processes of human development. The current trends in the digital transformation of the living environment affected the formation not only of the personal sphere of the younger generation, but also of the cognitive one. The article presents the results of a meta-analysis of changes in the level of field dependence/independence of school students of different ages at various stages of society digitalization. Materials and Methods. The meta-analysis was performed in several stages: the sources were selected and assessed in terms of their relevance based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data was carried out. 29 publications on school students’ field dependence/ independence were selected for the meta-analysis. Results. The meta-analysis identified the main trends in changes in the level of field dependence/independence of school students at various stages of society digitalization. The study showed that the field independence of both elementary school age students and middle school age students grows with each stage of digitalization, while the field independence of high school age students remains approximately at the same level at all stages of digitalization. Conclusions. It is concluded that the degree of digitalization of the school students’ environment affects the indicators of field dependence/independence of school students mediated by the age-related changes of their cognitive and style characteristics. Future research could focus on more detailed study of changes in field dependence/independence and on other “digital transformations” of the cognitive potential of school students at various stages of society digitalization.