Psychological resistance of student youth to information stress in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction. Self-isolation, accompanied by intensive inclusion in the digital information environment, has led to a deterioration in students’ psychological well-being and the emergence of information stress. Information stress is associated with the compulsive use of social networks, viewing aggressive news content, disseminating misinformation. The purpose of the study was to study the features of information behavior, psychological stability and ways to cope with information stress for Russian students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study participants and methods. The sample consisted of 218 students from Moscow and Ivanovo aged 18 to 26 (M=19.5) (33% men, 67% women). A specially developed questionnaire was used to identify the features of students’ information behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic; to assess psychological stability and determine coping strategies in conditions of information stress, the methodology “Questionnaire of Coping Methods” (QCM) was used (R. Lazarus, S. Folkman, in Russian-language adaptation by T.L. Kryukova, E.V. Kuftyak, M.S. Zamyshlyaeva). Results and scientific novelty. The cluster analysis allowed identifying four types of students’ information behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: phobic (20%), cognitive (45%), nihilistic (20%) and circulating behavior (15%). To a greater extent, in order to cope with information stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, student youth use constructive coping strategies for planning (xave = 58.5±21.7), positive reassessment (xave = 51.9±19.3), self-control (xave = 47.5±17.8), characterized by a purposeful analysis of the situation and possible behavior options, including the determination of personal development directions. Besides, a significant part of students resort to the use of destructive coping strategies of avoidance, confrontation, distancing, caused by negative experiences, leading to the circulation of unofficial information about the pandemic. Half of the respondents need social support. The regression analysis made it possible to identify predictors of psychological resistance (coping strategies) to information stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical significance. The identified types of information behavior can be used in educational work with students and their psychological support in order to personalize the communicative impact, as well as in the monitoring system of students’ psychological state and their perception of risks, the level of awareness and trust in the information received, the adoption of established rules and the willingness to follow them.