Space Weather and Its Impact on Psycho-Emotional State of the Inhabitants of Different Latitudes

Abstract

Purpose of the research was to conduct a comparative analysis of the psychological characteristics of the inhabitants of the northern and middle latitudes, depending on their psychological sensitivity to changes in geomagnetic disturbances Materials and Methods: The study included 78 relatively healthy volunteers (women and men, the average age of 44.2[36.7; 54.3] years) living in the polar (Tiksi), subpolar (Yakutsk) and middle (Saratov) latitudes. Monitoring of the studied indicators was carried out during March and April 2016. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: the Spielberger-Khanin scale for reactive (situational) and personal anxiety; E. Heim's technique for revealing individual coping strategies; the projective psycho-geometric test. Every day, during March and April 2016, the Kp-index, an integral indicator of changing geomagnetic disturbance was used. Depending on the identified matches, the peak values of the reactive anxiety by Spielberger-Khanin and Kp-index (not less than 60% of cases), all volunteers were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 included persons with similar overlap and, therefore, carriers of psychological sensitivity to changes in the action of heliogeomagnetic factors. Group 2 included persons without a specified sensitivity, (i.e., no coincidences). Results: In the course of the study, both coinciding and latitude-related differences in the psychological characteristics of different groups of volunteers were established. In the inhabitants of the polar and subpolar latitudes, especially in Group 1, the behavioral sphere was the most vulnerable (no constructive coping strategies). In addition, their changes in the emotional sphere contributed to the manifestation of aggressiveness and suppression of emotions against the background of general concentration, purposefulness and integrity of the individual. Regardless of the latitude of residence, volunteers, psychologically sensitive to changes in heliogeomagnetic factors, were more constructive in the emotional sphere, and the least in the behavioral, which gives reason to state that, depending on the factors of space weather, the behavior of the individual is the most vulnerable.

Keywords

• heliogeomagnetic factors
• anxiety
• coping behavior
• psychological sensitivity
• multi-latitude monitoring