Keywords
resilient person
pandemic
mental resilience
How to Cite
Abstract
Mental resilience is a relatively permanent trait of personality which enables a person to initiate adaptation processes by activating subjective resources. It helps maintain good functioning despite adversities, in difficult situations and in the face of troubles of everyday life. Development of resilience is influenced by individual factors and by factors related to the features of the family environment and the non-family social environment. The level of resilience influences the course of development in adolescence, and its shaping is a function of developmental processes.
The aim of the presented research was to determine the level of resilience of first-year students who experienced the negative effects of the Sars-Cov-2 virus pandemic in 2020 and to compare this level of resilience to the results of measurements carried out on groups of adolescents at the same stage of development in 2014 and 2016. The analyzes were based on the results of own studies conducted in 2016 and 2020 and on existing data published in 2014.
The Resilience Measurement Scale (SPP-25) (N. Ogińska-Bulik, Z. Juczyński) was used in each measurement. In the statistical analyzes the student’s t-test for one sample and the student’s t-test for independent samples were used.
The results indicate a statistically significant decrease in the intensity of resilience and its dimensions among the respondents surveyed in 2020 compared to the results obtained by their peers in 2014 and 2016. With regard to the results of standardization studies, the average overall resilience score among students who faced the negative effects of the pandemic was in the low range. The most significant decrease in the level of resilience was occurred in two dimensions: “optimistic attitude to life and the ability to mobilize in difficult situations” and “personal coping skills and tolerance of negative emotions”. The decrease of the level of resilience in all its dimensions in the youth surveyed in 2020 is difficult to explain only by the negative effects of the experienced pandemic. The causes of the phenomenon should be sought in family and non-family conditions of the process of its formation in childhood and adolescence.
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