Online coping with psychological problems in teenagers and young people
Introduction. Digital technologies are transforming traditional types of human activity. The social situation associated with living in a mixed reality gives rise to new contradictions between the available and necessary resources of coping with both age-normative psychological problems and stressful life situations. The article identifies the specifics of the way in which adolescents and young people cope with psychological problems by means of the internet. Materials and Methods. The following methods were used: “Coping strategies indicator” (J. Amirkhan) modified for studying online coping, and two versions of the questionnaire “Psychological problems of adolescents (youth) in real and virtual environments” (L. A. Regush et al.). The sample consisted of 566 teenagers aged 13-17 and 367 students aged 18-23. Comparative, correlation and variance analysis were used to process the results. Results. The results showed that the use of all coping strategies have similar age dynamics. It was also revealed that young people are significantly more likely to turn to “online social support” strategy than teenagers. The choice of the “online avoidance” strategy (i.e., escaping from problems using the virtual environment) is most prevalent at the age of 14. The respondents turn to the internet to solve all kinds of psychological problems and use all coping strategies. The closest relationship was found between the general index of problem concern and the use of “online avoidance” strategy. Avoidance when solving problems with identity and communication with peers is more typical of teenagers. Young people more often use the “online avoidance” strategy for solving problems related to the future. The “online problem-solving” strategy is more actively used by teenagers for problems with parents and peers, and by young people, for problems with future and security. Conclusions. Future research should be focused on determining the role of online coping in the overall structure of coping behavior of adolescents and young people.