Psychological Resources for Coping with Fear of COVID-19 and Negative Psychological Emotional States among Students of Russia and Kazakhstan

Abstract

The article presents the analysis results of stress resistance and basic beliefs as psychological resources for coping with fear of COVID-19 and negative psychological and emotional states on the sample of Russian (N=2310) and Kazakh (N=500) students (71.2% — women, average age 19.7). A higher level of stress resistance and basic belief expression in Benevolence of the World Around and Perceiving the World as Meaningful and Social Justice among Kazakh students in comparison with Russian ones is revealed, which is determined by the peculiarities formed in the conditions of the nomadic lifestyle of the Kazakh culture, based on the principles of mutual support and mutual assistance, trust and openness. It is shown that, regardless of the country and gender, high level of stress resistance and expression of basic beliefs are accompanied by lower indicators of fear of COVID-19 and the absence of negative psychological and emotional states associated with it, which suggests the universality of these psychological resources as a buffer that mitigates the traumatic effect of the pandemic situation.