Learning under the terrorist threat: what influences the psychological wellbeing of students

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Introduction. Terrorist threats are becoming part of modern global reality. Students are the category of the population that turns out to be most sensitive to such negative phenomena. Under the influence of a terrorist threat, the psychological safety and psychological well-being of an individual, which are responsible for the functioning of vital systems and the ability to overcome external and internal threats, may be disrupted. Since it is the young generation that shapes the future of any country, the study of factors influencing their psychological well-being is especially relevant. Purpose of the study: to study what factors influence the psychological well- being of school graduates entering college in a region with a yellow level of terrorist threat. Materials and methods. Study design: natural experiment. 1st measurement – April 2022, 2nd measurement - November 2022, 3rd measurement - November 2023. Subjects: 125 high school students aged 14 to 19 years (62 of them girls). Belgorod region – 62 people, Moscow region – 63 people. Methods: semi-structured interview according to N.V. Tarabrina, «Psychological safety of the individual» (I.I. Prikhodko), «Emotional safety of the educational environment» (T.N. Berezina), «Quality of interpersonal relationships in the educational environment» (V.V. Kovrov, G.S. Kozhukhar), ANOVA analysis of variance. Results. Living in an area with a yellow level of terrorist threat leads to the development of post-traumatic stress syndrome in students. Its development is influenced by the duration of the terrorist threat. Over the course of a year and a half, the overall PTSD index among students in the Belgorod region changed by 73.5% (F=5.9, p=0.02). The number of traumatic events increased by 6 times (F=20.66 p=0.000), persistent repetition of psychotraumatic experiences increased by 2 times (F=7.0 p=0.012), avoidance of stimuli and emotional blocking - by 1.6 (F=12, 09 p=0.001). The occurrence of PTSD symptoms occurs regardless of gender. The terrorist threat does not affect the safety of the educational environment, the personal safety of students, or the quality of interpersonal relationships. Students in a quiet region do not develop PTSD; their psychological well-being is influenced by other factors (gender, transition from school to college, etc.). Conclusion. The main factor influencing the psychological well-being of students in a region with a yellow danger level is the very fact of the presence of a terrorist threat; it causes symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in students. Other factors that are relevant for quiet regions (transition from school to college, gender) do not have a significant effect.