Keywords
coping strategies
adolescents
mental health
post-traumatic stress disorder
resilience
anxiety
How to Cite
Abstract
The article notes that during the prolonged war, Ukrainian children and adolescents are the most vulnerable group, the consequences of living in conditions of military operations have a prolonged impact on their mental health. It is noted that empirical data devoted the impact of war on the psycho-emotional state and consequences for the mental health of children and adolescents in Ukraine are unsystematic, as well as studies devoted to the mechanisms that ensure the stability and resilience of adolescents in such conditions.
The article analyzes the literature on the prevalence of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder among adolescents, in particular among Ukrainian adolescents during the war. In addition, the literature that studies resilience and coping strategies as mechanisms that help cope with difficult life situations is analyzed.
The authors present the results of an empirical study of the impact of coping strategies on resilience and anxiety, depression and PTSD in adolescents. The study involved 107 adolescents (29 boys and 78 girls). The “Resilience Scale for Children and Adolescents”, “List of Coping Strategies for Children and Adolescents”, and questionnaires which measure anxiety, depression and PTSD were used.
It was found that the level of anxiety, depression and PTSD among girls is significantly higher compared to boys. Almost a third of the respondents have moderate and high levels of anxiety. Some of the respondents have high levels of severity (12.1%) and severe signs of depression (13.1%). 36.4% of the respondents have moderate severity of PTSD symptoms and the same number of adolescents have severe signs of PTSD. A statistically significant relationship between resilience and indicators of anxiety, depression and PTSD symptoms was expected.
The article analyzes the relationship between coping strategies and resilience and anxiety, depression, and PTSD in adolescents. It is shown that active coping strategies have a statistically significant positive relationship with the resilience index of adolescents and with its dimensions. Avoidance strategies are not related to resilience. At the same time, avoidance strategies have a significant positive relationship with the negative changes in the psycho-emotional state (level of anxiety, depression and PTSD). Support-seeking strategies have significant negative correlations with anxiety and depression.
The article presents the results of the analysis of the impact of coping strategies on the resilience of adolescents, as well as the results of the mediation analysis, which allowed to identify the mechanisms of the impact of coping behavior on the psycho-emotional state of adolescents (anxiety, depression and PTSD), when resilience acted as a mediator of such impact. It is shown that active coping strategies have a statistically significant indirect effect on the studied indicators of the psycho-emotional state of adolescents, reducing them.
The conclusions indicate that the prevalence of mental health disorders have about a third of the studied adolescents, who demonstrate moderate or high level of anxiety, depression and PTSD. The level of severity of these signs is significantly higher among girls compared to boys. The level of resilience does not depend on gender and has significant relationships (negative) with anxiety, depression and PTSD.
It is noted that adolescents' coping behavior affects the level of resilience and the features of this influence are revealed: active coping strategies (positive rethinking, seeking support for one's actions and feelings) contribute to the growth of resilience.
It is emphasized that coping behavior has different mechanisms of influence on the mental health of adolescents: active coping strategies reduce anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder indirectly, through the impact on resilience, and passive coping directly affects the listed indicators, increasing their level.
The results obtained create a basis for both further research in this area and for the development of tools for psychological support of adolescents.
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