SELF-PRESERVATION ATTITUDES OF YOUTH AND ADOLESCENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Purpose. The study is aimed at the analysis of the fundamental structure, functions and self-preservation attitudes and manifestations in the behavior of youth and adolescents in human ecology-aware contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Background. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has come up an insufficient psychological readiness of young people of many countries, including the Russian Federation, for self-preserving behavior under the threat of an infectious disease with high virulence. The results of the study make it possible to assess the possible risks and develop preventive measures for correcting the social orientation of youth and adolescents towards maintaining health among individuals and social groups of young people.
 Study Design. The article presents the results of an empirical study of the cognitive, conative (stimulating) and emotional components of the self-preservation attitudes of adolescents and youth. It is shown how the latent dysfunction of the attitude towards maintaining health and impaired self-preservation behavior in the relatively safe period, manifests itself as a predisposition to the behavior that poses a threat to human health and survival during the COVID-19 pandemic. A comparative analysis of the structure, functions and phenomena of self-preservation attitudes of young people before and during the pandemic has been made based on empirical studies of the authors conducted in the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation within the period of 2010–2019.
 Participants. 600 respondents in the city of Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad region were examined during the period of 10 years (2010–2019). They comprised secondary school children aged 12–16 (20%), and men (34%) and women (46%) being university and college students majoring in humanitarian and technical fields of study aged 18–24.
 Methods. The authorial methodology “The Readiness for Self-Preservation Behavior” in comparison with the data analysis within the contexts of the COVID-19 pandemic which were available to access from the Internet, open global media sources, public records, and the official sources.
 Results. The dysfunction and weakness of the self-preserving attitude is caused by the low level and inconsistency of the cognitive, conative (behavioral), emotional and evaluative components in the structure of the self-preserving attitude settings for different spheres of life in adolescents and students in the Kaliningrad region, as well as a lack of behavioral experience that strengthens the psychological disorientation of young people in the field of health preservation.
 Findings. The low psychological readiness of young people to maintain health and display human the self-preserving behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic was manifested by irrelevant behavioral phenomena: the neglect of protective equipment and hygiene measures, as well as the open and veiled resistance to the self-isolation regime.