Problems of Psychology in the 21st Century

47

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2021, PPC

53-60

Authors: Sergii Boltivets, Olga Okhremenko

The victimhood of indirect witnesses of terrorist acts, which includes both the audience of the media and the population as a whole, is a complex socio-psychological phenomenon. The reasons victimizations are changes in the system of internal regulation of behavior, namely contradictions between the basic beliefs of people and the real consequences of terrorist acts, which are subjectively perceived as an unexpected, uncertain threat to existence (both objective and subjective), the irreparability of what can happen. Among the indirect witnesses were singled three response styles: slightly negative assessment, partial justification of the perpetrators of a terrorist act, negative emotional assessment with expressed anxiety. The most significant consequences of the psychological impact of terrorist acts on the media audience and the general population should be considered: the contradiction between the basic ideas of people and the reality demonstrated by the media: the subjective and objective unexpectedness of a terrorist act; incorrigibility of the offense. Shown, that psychological countermeasures should be based on the information component aimed at preventing inappropriate reactions, especially in the first days after the terrorist act, development and demonstration of optimal algorithms of behavior, prevent recourse to unconscious or subconscious impulses that violate basic illusions existence. With the presence of drivers that trigger patterns of victim-induced behavior, the media can provoke in the general population a massive loss of social and personal identity, meaning of life, prospects, to form a complex of inferiority, to induce certain adverse behaviors. The most significant consequences of the psychological impact of terrorist acts on the audience of the media and the general population should be considered the contradiction between the basic ideas of people (activate the images of death, destruction, horror of nothingness, which subconsciously everyone has. These "forms of the unspoken" violate three basic illusions of existence: the illusion of one's own immortality, the illusion of justice, the illusion of the hidden meaning of life) and the reality published by the media, which is subjectively perceived as a threat to existence; subjective and objective unexpectedness of a terrorist act; incorrigibility of the committed. Psychological measures to combat victimization should be based on the dominance of the information component of counteraction aimed at preventing dangerous reactions, especially in the first hours after the commission of a terrorist act, the development and demonstration of optimal behavioral algorithms.

73-81

Authors: Lúcia Ramiro, Marta Reis, Margarida Gaspar de Matos

Practicing sexual intercourse (SI) under the influence of alcohol or drugs has been identified as an unhealthy sexual behaviour. The sample consisted of 5695 adolescents, of which 46.1% were males, with a mean age of 15 years old. The measures consisted of asking the adolescent if he or she had ever had SI, age of 1st SI, condom use at last SI, SI under the influence of alcohol or drugs and HIV testing. Most adolescents reported having never had SI (77.0%). Among those who responded affirmatively, they referred having had their 1st SI at 15 years old. A significant minority reported not having used condom at last SI (34.1%) and having had SI under the influence of alcohol or drugs (14.5%). It was noticeable that males, adolescents with high SES, those who reported not having used condom at last SI, those not having been HIV tested, those who consider themselves fat, smoke daily, and scored lower in emotional sensitivity and quality of life were those who were more likely to have reported having had SI under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Adolescents who reported having had SI under the influence of alcohol or drugs have multiple risk behaviours. These results may account for important changes in educational and health policies, directed towards the development of personal and social skills, the importance of adolescents’ quality of life and the activation of all the support structures where adolescents are involved and that are somewhat responsible for promoting a healthy lifestyle.

94-103

Authors: Iveta Smane, Guna Svence

The issue of parents’ psychological well-being, parents’ ability to recognize their physical and emotional resources, ability to avoid exhaustion of those resources has become increasingly important. In this context parents’ self-compassion could be psychological resource for parents to implement positive parenting approaches and encourage positive contact with the child. The aim of this research was to examine whether there is an association between parents’ self-compassion and their perceptions of child rearing practices. Data were collected from 203 respondents in 2019. The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation (rs= .268 p < .01) between self-compassion and the Positive parenting indicators; statistically significant negative correlation (rs= -.214 p < .01) between self-compassion and Psychological control; statistically significant negative correlation (rs= -.192, p < .01) between self-compassion and Physical control.

3

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2021, PPC

7-17

Authors: Sefa Bulut, Ali Cissy Usman

The process of applying psychological theories to examine the biographical and autobiographical data of famous individuals is what is termed “psychobiography”. Since its inception in the early sixteenth century, this qualitative type of research method has had a fairly storied history in the Western world. This study provides a clear picture of psychobiographical research by defining terms and phrases that are used in relation to psychobiographical research. It also covered its historical antecedent and steps and procedures that are necessary for undertaking psychobiographical research. The steps presented here stemmed from a broad phase in qualitative research and analysis. In practice, however, psychobiographies do not always adhere to systematic formats, but some key decisions and guidelines must be followed in order to ensure the trustworthiness of the study's findings. Thus, the research mainly aims at introducing psychobiography, and life history research to the reader.

26-38

Authors: Guna Svence, Eva Gajdasova, Ala Petrulyte, Lūcija Kalnina, Lāsma Lagzdina, Ieva Pakse

There were 3 countries which participated in Erasmus+ project „Supporting teachers to face the challenge of distance teaching” (2020-1-LV01-KA226-SCH-094599) during last year. The aim of the project was to develop a well-functioning digital support system for teachers, promoting socio-emotional health and resilience. The main aim of this research was to outline a research problem on teacher well-being factors in three countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, when teachers worked remotely, and to further explore the problem in a focus group in Latvia. The following is a description of the study that was carried out in Latvia on the problems of teachers' social and emotional health factors during distance learning in 2020-2021. The study in Latvia took place in parallel with the study in Slovakia and Lithuania. This article describes the first part of the study in Latvia. One of the tasks of the study was to identify the factors that predicted teachers’ social and emotional health (SEH-T), to determine the relationships between teacher SEH, emotional burnout and teacher engagement in work indicators, and to perform a linguistic and psychometric adaptation of the teacher SEH-T (Social-emotional Health Survey – Teachers, Furlong and Gajdosova, 2019). Latvian teachers from different schools in Latvia participated in this study. Respondents completed three surveys: Teachers SEH-T (Social- emotional Health Survey – Teachers, Furlong and Gajdosova, 2018), Engaged Teachers Scale (ETS; Klassen, Yerdelen & Durksen, 2013) and the K. Maslach Burnout Survey – General Survey (MBI– GS, Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996; Caune, 2004). The results showed that the translation of teachers' SEH-T survey into Latvian language had good internal coherence of articles, the article discrimination index indicator was statically significant, and the reaction index was within the normal range. Teachers SEH is positively predicted by teacher engagement indicators. Demographic and emotional burnout rates do not predict teachers' SEH-T scores. The results showed that there were statistically significant positive correlations between teacher SEH-T, teacher engagement, and emotional burnout rates. There were statistically significant negative correlations between teachers' SEH-T indicators, teacher involvement and emotional burnout indicators.