Individual and contextual predictors of young Ukrainian adults' subjective well‐being during the Russian–Ukrainian war

Abstract

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is accompanied by horrific losses among civilians. This study investigates various individual (hope, optimism, resilience, post‐traumatic growth, and coping strategies) and contextual predictors (experience of life under occupation, actively hostile home environment, and frequent moves) of subjective well‐being among the youth living in Ukraine. A total sample of 593 students from several universities participated in the study using surveys that contained questions about sociodemographic characteristics, life satisfaction, hope, optimism, personal post‐traumatic growth, resilience, and coping strategies. Data were analyzed using JAMOVI software. The level of dissatisfaction with their own lives was 34.7%; most of the respondents had a higher incidence of minimal/mild hopelessness (88.7%) and high/moderate level of optimism (60.9%). The majority of participants had moderate and high levels of post‐traumatic growth (51.9% and 6.7%, respectively) and resilience (46.0% and 14.5%, respectively). Optimism, hope, resilience, post‐traumatic growth, using emotional support, and life in occupation predicted life satisfaction among the study sample.