Удовлетворенность общением подростков и молодежи во время пандемии COVID-19

Abstract

Background. The study is evoked by the need to clarify the trajectories of the development of communication among adolescents and young people in different periods of the pandemic. Objective. The aim is to analyze satisfaction with mediated and real communication in adolescence and youth in a situation of restriction of social contacts. Methods. The methods included a questionnaire survey (Google forms) aimed at identifying changes in communication among adolescents during different periods of the pandemic; self-assessment on a 10‑point scale of satisfaction with communication; an associative survey regarding communication during the pandemic; as well as questions that identify changes in leisure activities. The study included a search stage (spring 2020) and the main stage (autumn 2021), in which A. Mehrabian’s affiliation questionnaire was additionally used to identify the motivation for social contacts. Sample. Students of secondary schools and students of junior courses of universities took part in the research. The sample included 306 people (average age 15.9 years); male — 34%, female — 66%. Results. The study revealed significant differences between retrospective and current assessments of satisfaction with communication in a pandemic situation: the higher level of satisfaction with real communication in autumn 2021 as compared to 2020 (p < 0.001), a significant decrease in satisfaction with remote mediated communication (p < 0.01). It was found that adolescent schoolchildren are more satisfied with communication during the first period of the pandemic, unlike students (p < 0.05). Adolescents who are less in need of close friends and who easily converge with people are more satisfied with real communication. Adolescents with a high desire for acceptance (p < 0.05) and a low fear of rejection are satisfied with real communication. Conclusions. In the context of the pandemic, remote communication had a positive meaning — compensating for real social contacts through the strengthening of the trend to use the Internet space for communication and interaction. After quarantine, some teenagers began to appreciate real communication to a greater extent, while others preferred to continue communicating via the Internet, avoiding personal meetings. The results were used in psycho-­corrective work in terms of overcoming the predominant orientation towards virtual contacts and Internet attachment.