ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1591218
This article is part of the Research TopicGlobal Youth Mental Health Crisis: Understanding Challenges and Advancing Solutions in PsychopathologyView all 6 articles
Youth in times of polycrises. The role of social support in connection with the depression and anxiety symptoms among young people in Polish secondary schools during the COVID-19 threat and the outbreak of war in Ukraine
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Tarnowskie Góry, Poland, Katowice, Silesian, Poland
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Aim: To assess perceived social support and its relationship with symptoms of depression and anxiety among secondary school students in a crisis situation such was the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic. Material and Methods: The study involved 1,456 students aged 14 to 19 (mean age 16.77 ± 1.33), including 776 girls and 680 boys. Data were collected during a single data collection period from February 2022 to May 2022. Participants completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Children's Depression Inventory 2 (CDI-2), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-X1), and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using non-parametric tests and correlation analyses. Results: Girls reported significantly higher levels of perceived social support from significant people and friends as well as higher symptoms of depression and anxiety, compared to boys. Negative correlations were found between perceived social support and symptoms of depression and anxiety in both genders. Conclusions: The conducted research indicates that perceived social support may play an important role in coping with symptoms of anxiety and depression in crisis situations.
Keywords: social support, adolescence, Psychiatry, War, COVID - 19
Received: 10 Mar 2025; Accepted: 19 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Badura Brzoza, Tatar, Główczyński and Dębski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Patryk Główczyński, patryk.glowczynski@wp.pl
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