Socio-Psychological Resilience in Conditions of War: The Experience of Socially Active Youth

Abstract

The study is devoted to the problem of adaptation of socially active youth to adverse living conditions during the war, to identifying factors that contribute to resilience in conditions of extraordinary macrosocial events. This study is based on an online survey of representatives of socially active youth, participants in training and educational programmes of the International Project Peace Ethics: Vision of Youth. The study proves that war has a complex, ambivalent, but generally mobilizing effect on the young generation. Despite the high level of emotional upheaval, socially active youth demonstrate significant adaptive potential, social cohesion and a distinct attitude towards personal development. For a significant part of young people, the war became not only a traumatic experience, but also a factor of accelerated maturation, reassessment of values and the formation of a new civic subjectivity. Subjective perception of the depth of war impact does not automatically determine the level of resilience: adaptation depends to a greater extent on the resource potential of the individual – psychological, social, moral, spiritual – and the ability to mobilize these resources in crisis conditions. Young people use both active and passive methods of adaptation, but active strategies prevail – immersion in learning, volunteering, community activities, professional development. The study demonstrates the importance of the contextual components of resilience processes, identifying the role of various resources at different levels of social reality that contribute to or hinder the achievement of successful adaptation and resilience.