Manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorder among students in a wartime conditions

The relevance of this study stems from the increasing psychologically traumatic impact of wartime events on students and the heightened risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which highlights the need for a systematic examination of its manifestations and the improvement of psychological support for higher education students. The aim of the study was to identify the characteristics of PTSD manifestations among students in wartime conditions, as well as to analyse their relationship with levels of anxiety, depression and the patterns of use of coping strategies to manage stress. An additional objective was to determine which behavioural strategies predominate among students exhibiting different post-traumatic symptoms. The methodological framework of the study was based on the principles of the systemic and activity-based approaches in psychology. The empirical study was conducted amongst final-year undergraduate students at a higher education institution who were studying under martial law and were exposed to chronic stress. A set of psychodiagnostic methods was applied to assess anxiety, depression, PTSD and coping strategies. Data collection took place under standardised conditions of group testing, and statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s correlation analysis. The results revealed that some students exhibited pronounced symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as signs of PTSD. According to the survey results, out of 70 students, signs of PTSD were identified in 12 individuals (17.1%). It was found that students with elevated levels of post-traumatic symptoms were more likely to use maladaptive coping strategies, particularly those of a cognitive, emotional and behavioural nature. Among students exhibiting symptoms of PTSD, the proportion of maladaptive strategies was 67.9% for cognitive coping, 73.9% for emotional coping and 69.4% for behavioural coping. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the level of post-traumatic symptoms and the use of ineffective stress-coping strategies: the strongest correlation was found between PCL-5 scores and maladaptive emotional coping (ρ = 0.81; p < 0.01), indicating a mutual reinforcement of these psychological phenomena and a complication of the process of adaptation to stressful conditions. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the results to develop psychological support programmes for students and to enhance their psychological resilience in conditions of wartime stress