The Impact of Traumatic Experiences on the Psychological Safety of Students in the Context of the Terrorist Threat

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Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the impact of traumatic experiences on the psychological safety of the personality of students. The subjects were 70 students (21 boys and 49 girls) of the college of the Belgorod region. The study revealed that students who have experienced traumatic events are most often associated with the experience of being in a war zone and the death of a loved one. Criteria C (avoidance of stimuli), D (increasing arousal), and B (repetitive reproduction of a traumatic event) were among the most pronounced criteria for traumatic experiences among students. Girls are more susceptible to the negative effects of stress than boys. The results of the correlation analysis confirmed the hypothesis that traumatic experiences violate the psychological security of a person, including all its structural components: moral and volitional regulation (normativity), strategies for coping with stressful situations, value-semantic factor and post-traumatic growth. The psychological safety of girls is most strongly influenced by the symptom of impaired functioning of important areas of life (criterion F), and boys are influenced by recurring memories of trauma (criterion B), constant increasing arousal (criterion D) and immediate response to a traumatic event (criterion A).

General Information

Keywords: psychological safety of the individual, students, intense stress, terrorist threat, traumatic situations, traumatic experiences, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Journal rubric: Psychology of Emergency Situations

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/epps.2024010205

Acknowledgements. The authors express their gratitude and appreciation to T.N. Berezina, Professor, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, for valuable advice and support in the study.

Received: 23.03.2024

Accepted:

For citation: Finogenova T.A., Berko A.A. The Impact of Traumatic Experiences on the Psychological Safety of Students in the Context of the Terrorist Threat [Elektronnyi resurs]. Ekstremal'naya psikhologiya i bezopasnost' lichnosti = Extreme Psychology and Personal Safety, 2024. Vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 61–75. DOI: 10.17759/epps.2024010205. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Tatiana A. Finogenova, PhD Student, Department of Scientific Basis of Extreme Psychology, Faculty of Extreme Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2814-4498, e-mail: tatiana07finogenova@gmail.com

Alexey A. Berko, educational psychologist, Regional State Autonomous Professional Educational Institution Valuysky College (OGAPOU Valuysky College), Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4881-5264, e-mail: berko.aleksei@mail.ru

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