THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF-MOBILIZATION SCALE (PSMS): DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION IN WARTIME UKRAINIAN SAMPLES
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Keywords

psychological self-mobilization
personal resources
resilience
hardiness
self-efficacy
coping
scale validation
wartime Ukraine

How to Cite

Kokun, O. (2026). THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF-MOBILIZATION SCALE (PSMS): DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION IN WARTIME UKRAINIAN SAMPLES. PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL, 12(7), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.31108/1.2026.12.7.2

Abstract

Background. The full-scale war has turned everyday life in Ukraine into a chronically resource-depleting environment in which successful adaptation depends on the person’s capacity to activate and coordinate personal resources purposefully  – psychological self-mobilization. No instrument measuring this capacity has been available.

Objective. To describe the development of the Psychological Self-Mobilization Scale (PSMS) and to evaluate its psychometric properties.

Methods. The 22-item PSMS (five components – self-motivation, hardiness, resilience, self-efficacy, adaptive coping – comprising eleven two-item subscales) was administered online to five Ukrainian samples (N = 596; 77% women): university students (n = 343), internally displaced persons (n = 168), professionals (n = 26), and a clinical addiction-treatment sample (n = 59). Item analysis, factor analyses, reliability estimation, invariance testing, and validity examination were performed.

Results. Internal consistency was high (α = ω = .95; components α = .78–.84). A five-factor correlated model fitted best (CFI = .917; RMSEA = .070; SRMR = .042), with loadings of .62–.75 and a strong general factor (ωh = .95) supporting use of the total score. Metric invariance held across sex and student/adult cohorts. The PSMS correlated positively with resilience (pooled r = .72), self-efficacy (r = .73), hardiness, problem-focused coping, well-being, and sociocultural adaptation, and negatively with continuous traumatic stress, PTSD risk, burnout, and somatic complaints.

Conclusions. The PSMS is a reliable and valid measure of psychological self-mobilization suitable for research and applied use in wartime; provisional interpretive bands are provided, and the scale is given in English and Ukrainian in the appendices.

Keywords: psychological self-mobilization; personal resources; resilience; hardiness; self-efficacy; coping; scale validation; wartime Ukraine.

 

https://doi.org/10.31108/1.2026.12.7.2
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