Assessment of the stressfulness of the situation of social exclusion of Russians and strategies for overcoming it among young people and the older generation

The research is devoted to the study of the subjective assessment by young people and representatives of  the  older generation of  the  situation of  social exclusion of Russia in the space of international relations. The context of the lives of Russians is comprehended by the authors through the prism of the psychology of social stress and coping with it, which reflects the novelty of the study.

The aim. To identify the features of subjective assessment and cognitive-behavioral strategies for overcoming the stress of social exclusion among young people and the older generation.

Methods. The comparative study was conducted at the intersection of idiographic and nomothetic approaches. The sample consisted of 4 empirical groups of respondents of different ages, a total of 100 people (men and women) from 18 to 78 years old (M = 35.8; SD = 15.3). The methodological complex included: a semi-structured interview, methods “Cognitive assessment of a stressful situation” (Malenova A.Yu., 2015), “Scale of ethno-national attitudes” (Khukhlaev O.E., Kuznetsov I.M., Tkachenko N.V., 2018), “Methods for  diagnosing cognitive-behavioral strategies for  overcoming a stressful situation” (Sizova I.G., Filippchenkova S.I., 2002), “Questionnaire of personal changes” (Parfenova T.V., 2008).

Results. Assessing the  consequences of  alienation is  ambivalent, associated with a decline in the quality of life, limited opportunities, and integration at the national level. The dominant emotion is sadness, reflecting the uncertainty of the situation. It is more assessed as stressful by representatives of middle adulthood. Strategies for overcoming it are aimed at strengthening subjective control over the situation among young people. In youth, perception of reality without transferring aggression to other ethnic groups is possible in the case of less pronounced ethnic attitudes.

Conclusion. The main subjective criteria for the situation of social exclusion as social stress are the division of countries into “Ours” and “Strangers”; a prevailing negative assessment of  the  consequences of tension in  international relations; perception of subjective limitations of planning and self-realization in the future.

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