Coping with cosmogenic threat on the example of students living in the territory of a meteorite fall

A cosmogenic disaster is a rare phenomenon but it is extremely destructive and dangerous for the inhabitants of the earth. Its impacts on man's mental well-being as a person who survived them or learnt about them have been poorly studied. Morning events on the 15 th of February, 2013 in Chelyabinsk became the most mentioned in the news in mass media. The result of this cosmogenic disaster in Chelyabinsk and adjacent areas lead to a large-scale damage of glass- and load-bearing structures of buildings, and in addition, there were officially 1613 victims among the inhabitants of the city and suburbs. Basically the victims met damages associated with the impact of the shock wave. At the same time the effects of psychological damage were much more serious. The victims showed acute reaction to stress and aggravation of neurotic (somatoform) and neurotic disorders, worsening feelings of fear, sleep disorders, the development of post-traumatic disorders. The aim of our study was to identify the distinctive features of the reaction of the students living in areas affected and not affected with the cosmogenic threat to a stressful situation related to the fall of the meteorite, and the assessment of the possibilities of coping with it. To achieve the objectives we conducted a research project among the students living in areas affected and not affected with meteorite (n1 = 74; n2 = 111) applying the questionnaire of stressors of urban environment (O.V. Kruzhkova, E.A. Kuba), the questionnaire of neurotic disorders (H.D. Hansgen, adaptation G.H. Bakirova), and the questionnaire "Overcoming the difficult life situations" (V. Jahnke, G. Erdmann, adaptation N.E. Vodopyanova). After the comparison of the data and modeling SEM it has been found out that the students-witnesses of the meteorite on a conscious level assessment did not describe the event as high stress level for themselves, however they expressed a higher level of neurotic disorders than people not affected by cosmogenic disaster. The students of Chelyabinsk after the fall of the meteorite showed relatively less intensive use of constructive coping strategies with a stressful situation, but at the same time they have been applied specific coping strategies in the form of self-dialogue and the formation and propagation of narratives describing their own thoughts, feelings, and actions during a disaster.

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