Coping Behaviors of Young Men and Women with Different Health Levels

Abstract

Introduction. This paper addresses health issues of the modern young generation and introduces new experimental designs to examine the relationship between health and the most preferred coping strategies of young people, which can enable a broader study of the issue of health protection through the development of conscious and rational behaviors, including in stressful situations. The paper presents an analysis of the concept of health from the interdisciplinary perspective. The focus is on the necessity of considering a single sociopsychological aspect of health, including its somatic, social, and personal levels. Stress affects human health and stress resistance helps maintain mental and physical health. Methods. The experimental study aimed to identify the characteristics of coping behaviors of young men and women with different health levels. The study sample comprised male and female students of Bunin Yelets State University (N = 540, mean age of 20 ± 2.3 years). The study used (a) the questionnaire to identify the level of health and (b) the Ways of Coping Questionnaire by R. Lazarus modified by T. L. Kryukova, E. V. Kuftyak, and M. S. Zamyshlyaeva. The statistical analysis of the results was carried out using descriptive statistics (frequency analysis, analysis of ingroup mean values and standard deviations), Pearson’s chi-square test, and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. Results. The results of the study indicated that young men and women with different health levels use different coping forms. Young women with health problems use productive coping more often than young men. The higher the level of health of young men, the more likely they are to use productive coping. Discussion. The study shows that the negative experiences of young women associated with the symptoms of chronic diseases enabled female respondents to adapt better to stressful situations associated with health losses. At the same time, health losses as stress factors affect the level of constructiveness in choosing models of behavior for young men and women.

Keywords

• health
• disease
• health level
• health preservation
• stress
• stress resistance
• coping behavior
• coping with stress
• coping strategy
• youth