Coping with the Reality Situation during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Context of Individual Resilience

Abstract

The current reality situation can be described as atypical and caused significant changes in all areas of human life. COVID-related experiences made people revaluate themselves and reconsider their plans. The research objective was to describe the current reality situation and its effect on resilience. Because of the lock down of March-April 2020, the research was conducted as online testing and involved 131 people (female – 56 %) aged 18–75 years (18–21 years – 39 respondents; 22–35 – 50 respondents; 36–60 – 37 respondents; 61–75 – 5 respondents), of whom 74 people were single and 57 were married. The obtained data were processed using methods of descriptive statistics, while statistical analysis of differences between groups were described based on H-Kraskel-Wallis Test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Fischer Angular Transformation Criterion. The empirical study included S. Maddi's Resilience Test as adapted by D. A. Leontyev and E. I. Rasskazova, as well as the method of Semantic Differential of the Reality Situation developed by O. V. Alexandrova and I. B. Dermanova. The authors analyzed the way the participants coped with the pandemic situation and attributed it to the type of adversities. The pandemic interrupted the continuity of life and interfered with the internal needs, e.g. motives, aspirations, values, etc. Groups with different socio-demographic background showed little difference in the way they coped with the reality situation; however, the differences in the level of resilience were more pronounced. The major difference between the groups was that a high level of resilience appeared to provide positive expectations and made it possible to see it not as critically complex. In some cases, participants with medium and low levels of resilience coped with the current situation better than the rest. The authors see the content of one’s inner work in an adverse situation as a self-organized process of understanding the situation in the context of one’s life path, gaining new meanings, and strengthening one’s resources.