AXIOLOGICAL COMPETENCE AS A RESOURCE FOR COPING WITH WAR-RELATED STRESS: MECHANISMS OF INFLUENCE

Abstract

Relevance of the study: prolonged military actions and a sustained state of social instability lead to increased psychological burden on both security and defense sector personnel and the civilian population, who function under conditions of constant threat. The combination of professional risk, information overload, social losses, and disruption of life plans heightens emotional reactivity, complicates self-regulation processes, and creates a risk of personal meaning disintegration. Under such conditions, particular importance is attached to the theoretical understanding of axiological competence as a systemic personal resource capable of ensuring the alignment of internal value orientations with the demands of the wartime context and supporting the process of coping with war-related stress.

Purpose of the study: to substantiate axiological competence as a personal resource for coping with war-related stress and to develop a conceptual model of the mechanisms of its influence on psychological functioning under wartime conditions.

Research methods: theoretical analysis and systematization of scientific sources on war-related stress and value-based regulation; a comparative approach to examining its manifestations among security and defense sector personnel and civilians; structural and functional analysis; modeling method.

Research results: a structural and functional model of axiological competence as a resource for coping with war-related stress was developed. The model includes a structural dimension (value reflection, value self-realization, value harmony, value development, value tolerance) and a functional dimension (cognitive-interpretative, existential-meaningful, regulatory-behavioral, and identity-stabilizing mechanisms; regulatory, integrative, buffering, and developmental functions). It is substantiated that value reflection determines the interpretation of wartime events and reduces cognitive disorganization; the existential-meaningful mechanism ensures the preservation of life perspective; the regulatory-behavioral mechanism facilitates the selection of constructive coping strategies; the identity-stabilizing mechanism supports the integrity of personal and professional identity; and the developmental function creates conditions for post-stress transformation. It is demonstrated that axiological competence mediates the alignment of internal value orientations with the demands of the wartime context among both security and defense personnel and civilians.

Conclusions: coping with war-related stress among security and defense sector personnel and civilians is a systemic process determined by the interaction of value-based, cognitive, regulatory, and existential mechanisms. The wartime context actualizes the significance of axiological competence as an internal resource of psychological resilience. The coherence of the structural components of the value sphere and their functional implementation ensures the preservation of identity, meaningful integrity, and adaptive behavior.