COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION LEVELS AMONG UKRAINIAN AND SPANISH STUDENT YOUTH
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Abstract
Relevance. Psychophysiological adaptation is regarded as an integral process of maintaining vitality, serving as a foundation for both health and organism functioning. An adequate level of psychophysiological adaptation is essential for successful academic achievement and social, professional, and university life, and is therefore relevant to all learners, regardless of their nationality or the country in which they study. So far, the most researched aspects of adaptation in education are social, mental, and psychological. However, psychophysiological components of adaptation in educational environments remain insufficiently understood. This issue is especially relevant in Ukraine, where students must endure martial law conditions, chronic stress, frequent air raid alerts, changes in learning formats, and increased information loads.
Contemporary research confirms the negative impact of these factors on the mental and physiological states of young students. It is therefore important that comparative analysis of the psychophysiological adaptation levels of higher education students in Ukraine (who must defend themselves against Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion) and Spain (where students live in peaceful conditions) may help to establish the threshold for physiological mechanisms, beyond which maladaptation processes commence. This could facilitate the development of new approaches to planning academic workloads and educational trajectories, enhance intersystem connections of the organism as a basis for life, and reduce the risk of unwanted psycho-neurological states.
The aim of the study was to determine the features of psychophysiological adaptation (PA) among young students in Ukraine and Spain, to carry out a comparative analysis of their adaptive processes' levels, and to develop practical recommendations for improvement..
Materials and Methods. To assess levels of psychophysiological adaptation (PA), an original computer programme “Integral Assessment of Human Psychophysiological Adaptation” (CP IAHPA) was utilised. This involved evaluating psychological and physiological indicators: reactive (RA) and personal (Pers.A) anxiety; vestibular function (VF) via the sensitising Romberg test; the tapping test (TT) by Ilin; heart rate (HR) via photoplethysmography; systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure; psycho-emotional colour (CP) and sound perception (SP). Statistical processing of the obtained data was performed using MS Excel 2010 software.
Results. A strong negative correlation was found between PA level and RA, Pers.A, HR, SBP, DBP. Ukrainian students were found to have a higher proportion of individuals with low and critically low levels of PA, which was associated with increased RA, Pers.A, poorer VF, TT, CP, and SP compared to Spanish students (p < 0.001). The strong negative correlation between PA level and RA, Pers.A, HR, SBP, and DBP were confirmed.
Conclusions. The lower PA among Ukrainian students compared to Spanish ones is associated with martial law, which has imposed chronic stress combined with intensive academic workload, sleep deprivation, unhealthy habits, and poor diet. The obtained results provided a foundation for a range of practical recommendations for psychological assistance and optimising the educational environment during war and in the post-war period.
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