Assessment Peculiarities of Adolescent Subjective Well-being and Safety in Areas of Military Conflicts

Abstract

The study is aimed at examining the assessment of safety and well-being among adolescents through their subjective evaluation. A comparative analysis of subjective well-being (SWB) was conducted in areas of armed conflict and regions of Russia using the Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire (Oslon V.N. et al.), which, in addition to SWB subdomains, includes a set of questions allowing for a more qualitative interpretation of the results. In total, 13,342 adolescents from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) participated in the survey, including 54% girls and 46% boys aged 13 to 17. The research results allowed evaluating living conditions, education, experienced stress, and safety, as well as the perspectives of adolescents seeking integration into normal life. A detailed analysis of the responses revealed that the majority of adolescents rated their satisfaction with various aspects of life quite high. However, a comparative analysis of SWB subdomains indicates that subjective satisfaction is lower than the overall Russian sample (151,000 people). The study showed that, along with socio-psychological support for children by qualified specialists locally and during visits to other regions, the creation of conditions for normalizing life in their republic, including the restoration of child infrastructure, is of no less importance for well-being.