The Relationships between War-Induced Stressor Exposure, Endorsement of Values Dimensions, and Quality of Life in Ukraine

Abstract The present analysis explores the effects of the aggregate stress exposure measure on values endorsement and quality of life in Ukraine following the full-scale invasion. The results suggest that in the context of an armed conflict, nearly all classes of values, regardless of their individual or collective nature, predicted fusing one’s individual identity with that of a group in Ukrainian sample. While the summative stressful experiences did not reveal direct statistically significant links with the majority of values scales, it is likely that these effects might not be instantaneous or the relationships between the constructs might be mediated by personality traits. For those respondents who stayed in Ukraine, higher stress exposure proportionately predicted one’s self-reported willingness to engage in self-sacrificial behavior. The role of childhood environment and dispositional traits as factors affecting individual responses to adversity and perceptions of threat in adulthood are discussed.