Approbation of the Methodology for Studying the Frequency and Intensity of Existential Fears in Adolescents 15–17 years’ Old

Abstract

Introduction. The article deals with the problem of the growth of high-intensity fears among adolescents over the past year, and their identification with the help of its own psychodiagnostic technique. The study fills the lack of scientific works on studying the manifestation of fears in adolescents of the older age group.Purpose. To carry out approbation of the author's questionnaire-questionnaire "Peculiarities of actualization of existential fears of a personality", consisting of closed and open-ended questions, taking into account the difference between this methodology and other methods aimed at studying actual fears of a personality.Materials and Methods.  The study was conducted with the involvement of high school students as respondents, a total of 98 people took part in the study. As a result of the study it was found that all boys and girls aged 15-17 have fears, but their distribution in terms of number, frequency and intensity differs in different gender groups. To confirm the adequacy of the integrative indicator "fear intensity", the methods "Life Satisfaction Scale" and "Death Anxiety Scale" were used. The Mann-Whitney U-criterion was used to confirm the reliability of differences between groups.Results. Content analysis of the open questions of the author's questionnaire-questionnaire made it possible to identify factors influencing the emergence and development of fears, their frequency and intensity, ways to overcome fears and understanding of the negative impact of high-intensity frequent fears by adolescents, as well as their need for professional psychological help.Discussion. This technique can be used as a screening tool to identify the frequency and intensity of fears in different gender and age groups, used for different purposes, including the identification of persons in need of further psychologically corrective work, which will prevent the development of existential fears of high intensity or reduce the intensity of these fears, which, in turn, will help to avoid distress associated with pathological fears, leading to possible personality maladaptation.