The problem of ecological stress among the population living in the area of nuclear production

Recently the number of territories suffering from technogenic and ecological ill-being and the number of professionals working in such conditions has been increasing. It actualizes the research of "ecological stress", which is caused by man's awareness of the dangers associated with living in polluted environment, expectations of harmful effects or its consequences, its possible impact on health. Siberia is one of the main industrial regions of Russia; there is industrial production associated with possible risk of radioactive contamination. The aim of the study is to determine the characteristics and intensity of ecological stress among people living and working in the conditions of technogenic and ecological ill-being risk (on the example of nuclear production). The study involved people living in the area of nuclear production with different socio-demographic characteristics: production workers, citizens living close to nuclear plants, rural residents and urban residents living in 30-km zone of nuclear plants, pupils who study at schools situated close to nuclear plants. The following methods were adapted to the study: the method of unfinished sentences for identifying and disclosing the content of ecological stress; the questionnaire "Environmental attitude" for identifying the ecological setting (Kalmykov A. A.) with the scale of ecological threats experiences. It was found that ecological stress may manifest as feelings of threat to own health and the health of children, reduced work capacity and opportunities of self-fulfillment, negative attitudes towards nuclear production for the future, and readiness for migration. At the same time there are people who are resistant to ecological stress, they don't feel dangers of nuclear production and they aren't willing to move away, they understand the need and relevance of nuclear production for the country and city development, and they demonstrate rather high working efficiency and capacity of finding opportunities for self-fulfillment under conditions of their living. Special aspects of ecological stress experience revealed that pupils living in the immediate area of nuclear production are experiencing a stronger threat to self-fulfillment opportunities and believe that their opportunities will expand outside the area of nuclear industry; migration readiness is more pronounced among urban population of 30-km zone of nuclear plants; workers of nuclear industry worry much stronger about the health and welfare of their children. The experience of ecological stress among the workers of nuclear plants increases with the growth of their awareness in how much the production in which they are professionally engaged pollute the environment. Revealed features of experiencing the environmental stress allow us determining the main tasks of psychological prevention and the targets of psychological work with people with different socio-demographic characteristics living under conditions of technogenic and ecological problems risk.

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