ABSTRACT
Introduction. The pandemic was a challenge to our contemporaries and focused the attention of researchers on psychological resources that facilitate its overcoming. Empirical studies of the psychological regulation system of the personality's vital activity during this period, reflected in the special aspects of the innovative, value and regulatory characteristics of representatives of various social groups, are quite limited, which led to the relevance and novelty of this study. Methods. The scale "Self-Assessment of Personality's Innovative Qualities” by N. M. Lebedeva and A. N. Tatarko was used, which allows for studying the psychological components that determine innovative human behaviour. Regulatory characteristics were studied using the "Personal Readiness for Activity (PRA)” scale by S. A. Bogomaz, I. V. Atamanova and I. A. Filenko. Value orientations were determined using the Schwartz's questionnaire "Portrait Value Questionnaire-Revised (PVQ-R)”, modified by K. V. Sugonyaev. To evaluate the studied variables concerning the pandemic influence, the authors used such criteria as a test of differences and network analysis of partial correlations using the EBICglasso regularization method. Results. The results of the study showed significant changes in several innovative, value and regulatory characteristics in the conditions of the pandemic, most of which were associated with the gender factor. The restructuring of the network structure of psychological indicators during the pandemic is going in opposite directions in groups of young men and women. The female sample shows attenuation of moderate and strong network relationships during the transition from 2019 to 2020, which means the network structure becomes more amorphous. For the male sample group, the opposite trend is observed – in 2020, initially, the amorphous network structure becomes multi-connected, structured, and clearly expressed. Discussion. The non-specific and specific effects of the pandemic on the psychological characteristics that ensure the regulation of vital activity in young men and women aged 17 to 28 years are discussed. © 2022, Russian Psychological Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to study possible changes caused by the pandemic factor in the psychological system of ensuring the psychological health of young people, related to regulatory controls and value orientations. The sample consisted of 164 university students, 17 to 25 years of age (the mean age is 19.4 years;and 39.0% are males), divided into two equal investigation groups of 82 people from 2019 and 2020. Research methods: "Personal Readiness for Activity (PRA)" scale (I. V. Atamanova, S. A. Bogomaz) and "Portrait Value Questionnaire-Revised (PVQ-R)" (Sh. Schwartz). Data analysis methods: rank-biserial correlation, regression analysis, Mann-Whitney U-test, Student's t-test, network analysis. Results: The data of correlation and regression analysis revealed relationships between the studied psychological variables and the "pandemic factor", which are significantly more pronounced than the common socio-demographic relationships from before the pandemic from a variety of respondents (gender, age, specialty). To a greater extent, this applies to the variables of Planning, Reflection, and Conservation. The use of statistical criteria for differences revealed a significant decrease in the indicators of Planning, Reflection, and the PRA Index in 2020 compared to 2019. We found a significant increase in the level of higher-order value of Conservation in 2020. The role of this indicator in the network structure of the psychological system for ensuring psychological health of young people is also on the rise, while the role of the value of Openness is on the decline. These phenomena reflect the dynamic consistency of youth value orientations with global critical factors related to the pandemic. There is a restructuring of the structural features of the value and regulatory controls for ensuring the psychological health of young people in the context of a pandemic. In the network graphs of 2019, a single center is represented - Goal setting, which acts as a system-forming factor. In 2020, it was replaced by a cooperative, polycentric subsystem that combines three characteristics that are similar in their degree of influence on human life - Planning, Reflection, and Conservation.
ABSTRACT
While negative psychological effects of COVID-19 pandemic are actively studied, little is known about the eventual positive reactions to the pandemic including the capacity to see positive opportunities in this situation and about personality resources that may help to cope and to maintain well-being despite lifestyle restrictions. The aim of our study was to reveal positive personality resources that contribute to buffering the negative effects and its consequences on individual lives. 474 adults 18-81 years old from Siberia (Russia) participated in May 2020 in a survey about the impact of the pandemic and self-isolation and also filled out psychometric measures of well-being and psychological resources (PANAS, PWI, Value of Life Scale, MHC, MSTAT-I, LOT, GSE, Hardiness Survey, SOC, Personal Life Position inventory). One in three respondents reported worsening emotional condition through the previous two weeks and poor adherence to governmental self-isolation recommendations, and 43.6% reported increased financial difficulties. Taking into account not only the negative but also positive subjective effect of the pandemic enabled the improved accuracy in prediction of both well-being and adherence to the governmental measures. The less a person mentioned the positive side of the pandemic, the more strongly their adherence to the governmental measures depended on perceived negative effects (worries and threats). Tolerance for ambiguity, the challenge component of hardiness, harmony with life predicted perceived positive effects after adjusting for negative effects. Psychological resources could play a buffering role as regards the vulnerability to negative psychological effects of the pandemic and help to find positive opportunities.