The impact of stressful states on the value and motivational sphere of Ukrainians during the war

The article explores the impact of destructive psychological stress on the value-motivational sphere of the Ukrainian population during the Russo-Ukrainian war. A systems approach to the sociological study of values is employed to conceptualize the value-motivational sphere, identifying thirteen individual values grouped into three value spheres: basic needs, success, and universal reference points. The value-motivational states are measured using the ‘Index of life forces and ambitions’ experimental method directed at evaluation of value apathy, value exhaustion, value frustration, and value force for each individual value — physical health, psychological comfort, interpersonal relationships, personal freedom, morality, wealth, beauty, home comfort, power, status, leisure, knowledge, self-realization. Destructive psychological stress is examined using seven scales: hostility, depression, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, exhaustion, and paranoid ideas. The study investigates the complex effects of destructive psychological stress on individual values, focusing on value-motivational states such as apathy, exhaustion, frustration, and resilience (based on 2023 representative sample data). The analysis identifies interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, depression, and general exhaustion as stress states that suppress the value-motivational sphere, while hostility is found to act as a stress state that stimulates it. It is also found that destructive stress states have a relatively weak impact on the value forces and ambitions of three wartime "value pillars" for Ukrainians: interpersonal relations, morality, and knowledge. This resilience is identified as a key factor contributing to the sustained realization potential of these values under harsh wartime conditions.