SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS AS A FACTOR IN THE INTENSIFICATION OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN ADOLESCENTS
Abstract
The article highlights the problem of maintaining mental health in adolescents in the context of dynamic social transformations taking place in modern society. Social changes – war, information overload, growing uncertainty about the future, transformation of family and educational structures – create new challenges for the psycho-emotional adaptation of adolescents. This age period is particularly vulnerable because it is characterized by increased sensitivity to external stressors, unstable self-esteem, a need for recognition, and, at the same time, insufficiently developed mechanisms of emotional self-regulation. The aim of the study was to determine the levels of the main components of the psycho-emotional state of adolescents in conditions of social change and to establish the relationships between anxiety, frustration, aggression, rigidity, depressive manifestations, stress resistance, well-being, activity, and mood. Fifty-four adolescents aged 13 to 16 participated in the study. Four standardized methods were used: the Eysenck questionnaire, the Beck Depression Scale, the SAN method, and the Stress Resistance Self-Assessment Questionnaire. The results were processed in the Jamovi statistical package using Spearman's correlation analysis.
So the results of the empirical study showed that more than half of the respondents have an elevated or clinically significant level of depression, and about a quarter show a critical level of anxiety. Frustration was found to be a central negative marker closely associated with high levels of anxiety, decreased well-being, activity, and mood. These three variables, in turn, form a holistic complex of positive resources that determines overall psycho-emotional well-being and promotes adaptation in conditions of instability. The results obtained are of practical importance for psychologists, educators, and social workers, as they determine the main directions of preventive and corrective work with adolescents: developing stress resistance, increasing emotional literacy, forming adaptive strategies for overcoming stress, reducing frustration, and supporting resource states – well-being, activity, and mood.
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