Dynamics of students' internal health picture with increasing external stress factors

Abstract

The rapid changes in the situation in world politics, the increase in the intensity of armed conflicts, the narrowing of the time perspective are unprecedented challenges that the modern generation of young people have to face. In these conditions, the problem of the psychological health of young people and the factors of its preservation is becoming increasingly important. To designate the integral characteristic of the idea of one's health in the self-consciousness of the individual, as a system-forming factor of health-saving behavior in domestic psychology, the concept of "internal picture of health" is used. The purpose of the study is to analyze the dynamics of the internal picture of the health of university students in the context of the growth of external stress factors (increasing tension of the armed conflict in the neighboring state). The study was conducted on the basis of the Belgorod State National Research University. It was attended by students of 2007, 2017 and 2022 recruitment years. The total number of subjects was 288 people. The analysis of the characteristics of the dynamics of the internal picture of students' health was carried out using the following psychodiagnostic methods: the questionnaire "Attitude towards health" (R.A. Berezovskaya), the questionnaire "Assessment of the level of satisfaction with the quality of life" (N.E. Vodopyanova), the questionnaire "Coping methods" (R .Lazarus, S. Folkman, adapted by K. L. Guseva). The results obtained allow us to conclude that the transformation of the internal picture of health among young people in the face of the growth of external stress factors is really taking place. The revealed dynamics of attitudes towards health is expressed in a more pragmatic approach to health, an increase in satisfaction with the ability to maintain one's own emotional well-being, as well as a more intensive use of most types of coping, updating previously unused coping strategies. Thus, the internal picture of health as a systemic psychological formation acts as a regulatory mechanism of self-awareness, activating its work aimed at overcoming threats to the psychological health of the individual. The results of the study can be used in the work of the psychological services of universities.