You can take the resilience test, emotional barometer and stress management strategies on the Rating Online Platform

KEY FINDINGS:

psychological resilience (interest in life, ability to make decisions, attitude to the past and future, sense of self-worth etc.)

physical resilience (maintaining physical health: health monitoring, quality of sleep, nutrition, feeling of fatigue) The resilience of Ukrainian residents is consistently above average, not falling below 3 out of 5 during the surveying period.

The resilience of Ukrainian residents is consistently above average, not falling below 3 out of 5 during the surveying period. In April 2022, the level of resilience was 3.88, in November 2023 – 3.41. During this period, resilience indicators could slightly decrease or increase, but these differences are insignificant.

Psychological resilience (interest in life, ability to make decisions, attitude to the past and future, sense of self-worth, etc.) was highest at 4.17 as of April 2022, lowest at 3.51 in March 2023 and has remained constant at 3.70-3.75 since May 2023.

Physical resilience (supporting physical health: health monitoring, sleep quality, nutrition, the feeling of fatigue) is slightly lower than psychological resilience: from 3.6 in April 2022, to 3.12 in November 2023 – these changes are also minor.

Gender differences. Women traditionally have lower levels of resilience than men because they are more emotionally reactive and more socially and economically vulnerable, as well as generally feeling more threatened than men and more worried and concerned about children and other family members.

There is no difference by age in April 2022 (3.85-3.92), but further on, young adults (18-29 years) lose the most in resilience until September 2023 (2.82) and improve resilience slightly in November 2023 (3.15) almost equal to the 30-39-year-olds (3.19). But the most resilient for November 2023 are the older groups: 50-59 years (3.60) and 60+ years (3.61).

Income level (which also partially determines Income level (which also partially determines a person's social status) significantly affects the level of resilience: the poor are the most vulnerable, socially, economically, and therefore psychologically – they have the lowest level of resilience (3.0), and further we observe a linear relationship: the higher the income, the greater the resilience – the high-income people are the most resilient (3.7). There are no obvious dependencies by region (areas). Residents of the Luhansk area, who are now IDPs, have the lowest resilience (3.42) and residents of the Zakarpattia region have the highest (3.78), however, residents of the Mykolayiv region have higher resilience (3.72) than residents of Chernivtsi area (3.61). (3.61).

EMOTIONAL BAROMETER

It has 8 surveys since February 2023. Emotions most often experienced by a person are divided into conditionally positive and negative (maximum score 7 points). The dynamics of changes in emotional states for this period are insignificant. For positive emotions, the worst month was March 2023, when there was a decrease in positive emotional background: this is the period of coming out of a hard, exhausting, cold winter, solar activity is still low, and fatigue and loss of energy are felt. The best month was May 2023, when their levels rose: it was spring, lots of sunshine, energy recovery, long daylight hours and the expectation at that time of counter-attack, hope and uplift. In November 2023, the positive emotional spectrum is arranged as follows: interest (4.8), joy (4.3), inspiration (4.2), falling in love (3.8), pleasure (3.8), and calmness (3.7). Ukrainians experience calmness the least and interest the most, as interest is responsible for monitoring what is happening around them.

For negative emotions in general, June 2023 had the highest scores. In November 2023, the negative emotional spectrum looks as follows: worry (5.0), sadness (4.8), anger (4.3), disappointment (4.3), fear (4.3), indifference (3.3). So, the worry remains at the highest level throughout the whole dynamics of surveying – from 4.9 to 5.1. Ukrainians feel fear least of all. As well as disappointment, which is so much talked about: it was the lowest in May 2023 (3.6), and the highest – in June 2023 (4.4), but since then its level almost does not fluctuate. Indifference is not a purely negative emotion, and respondents experience it least of all – because it is difficult to remain indifferent living in Ukraine.

In terms of age, positive emotions are experienced more by young people 18-29 years old, the least by older groups 50-59 years old, 60+ years old. Negative emotions have no age dependencies, the most unstable in negative emotions is the group of 40-49 years old (from 3.93 in May 2023 to 4.89 in September 2023).

Gender differences. Women are less positively affected than men in most pollings. On the contrary, they experience more negative emotions.

The level of income determines the positive emotional spectrum by direct dependence: the higher the income, the more positive emotions (the poor – 3.3., the well-off – 4.5). Negative emotions – by inverse dependence (affluent people – 4.1., the poor – 5.2).

By regions (areas), residents of Donetsk (3.76) and Kherson areas (3.78) feel the least positive emotions, while residents of Ivano-Frankivsk (4.37) and Chernivtsi (4.52) regions feel the best emotionally. Negative emotions, on the contrary, are least expressed in these same areas – by residents of Ivano-Frankivsk (4.2), Chernivtsi (4.2), and Kirovohrad (4.24) regions. Residents of Kherson (4.76) and Donetsk (4.7) areas are the most emotionally negative.

TRESS COPING STRATEGIES

It has 7 surveys from March 2023 "Fight-Flee-Freeze" strategies are ways of responding to life's challenges and stress, showing how we adapt to a changing environment: what are the psychological reactions and our behaviour.

The strategy FIGHT

There was almost no change over the interviewing period – this is the most used strategy (5.0 to 5.2). The interviewees use "fight" more as a way to cope with worry and fear. In a traumatic situation, they start to act and put maximum effort into overcoming the destructive consequences of stressful situations they encounter. As of November 2023, by age, this strategy is most favoured by the older group (61+) – 5.49, least favoured by young people (18-29 years old) – 4.58 and youth over the entire polling period have shown that they use this coping strategy the least. There are no obvious gender dependencies for this strategy: as of November 2023, we observe almost the same level for women (5.12) and men (5.18). Regionally, "fight" is least used by residents of the East (4.9), followed by Kyiv (5.0), South (5.0), West (5.2), and Centre (5.2), but these differences are insignificant. There is a linear relationship by income level: the poor use this strategy less (4.7) than the well-off (5.3) because it is an active, effective strategy, and income level is usually correlated with the ability to act.

The strategy FLEE

Most used in March 2023 (4.8), underwent little change in performance and is at almost the same level in November 2023 (4.7) – here escape is a way of coping with a stressful situation, it is making maximum effort to escape and be as far away from danger as possible. The age differences in November 2023 are not significant, being greatest in September, with the older age group (61+) using this strategy less (4.12) than respondents aged 30-39 (4.65). These correlations are not linear, though. Gender differences were also most shown in September 2023 – women were less willing to “flee” (4.16) than men (4.74). There are almost no regional differences – 4.5-4.6 in all regions and Kyiv. By income level, this strategy also shows a linear dependence, but now it is the other way around: it is used most of all by the poor (4.7), and least of all by the well-off people (4.3).

The strategy FREEZE

It has undergone the greatest changes from 4.1 in March 2023 to 3.5-3.6 from May to November 2023. It is chosen by people who do not take active actions in a threatening situation, as if frozen in place. The strategy allows them to restrain themselves from rash actions, to take shelter from danger and to survive a difficult situation. This strategy is the least used by respondents today.

By age: youth use this strategy the most (4.51) and the older group 61+ the least (2.98) and these differences are very significant.

By gender: in general, women are more likely to “freeze” than men, except in May and September 2023, where men were more likely to “freeze” than women.

By region: residents of the East use this strategy the most (4.0), followed by the South (3.7), Kyiv (3.6), the West (3.6), and the Centre (3.5). There is a linear dependence** by income level**: the poor use this strategy most of all (4.5), while the affluent people use it least of all (3.1), and these are also very significant differences.

The research was prepared by Marianna Tkalych, Tetiana Skrypchenko, Eugene Krotevych