Intellectual Risk Assessment as an Indicator of Psychological Health in Youth in Situations of Risk and Uncertainty

The concept of risk marks modern society due to variability and unpredictability of political, social and epidemiological processes. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the issue of uncertainty and ways to respond to it. New threats to the psychological well-being of the population define the need in search for additional cognitive and personal resources that contribute to human psychological health. Intellectual risk assessment is a relatively understudied phenomenon. Therefore, it is of great interest to explore the role of this concept in maintaining and shaping youth psychological health in situations of uncertainty. The aim of the study is to estimate and analyze the relationship between psychological health and intellectual risk assessment of youth in situations of risk and uncertainty. Research methods and materials. The research sample consisted of 555 people (307 of them were university students and 248 were working youth). Research methods: The Mental Health Continuum questionnaire, MHC-SF (C.L.M. Keyes, adapted by E.N. Osin); Intellectual Risk Assessment questionnaire (G. Craparo, P. Magnano, A. Paolillo et al., adapted by T.V. Kornilova, E. M. Pavlova). Results. Factor and dispersion analyses were applied. As a result of the use of factor analysis, three o factors were revealed: Cognitive and personal resource, Personal resource of sustainability, Resource of well-being. The index of intellectual risk assessment was introduced (the index of IRA, forms a single structure with indicators of psychological health). A variance analysis of the measured characteristics of students and working youth showed no differences in the parameters of cognitive and personal resources. Despite the high values of Self-efficacy and Imagination, students tend to be less psychologically stable, show a low degree of tolerance to the situation of uncertainty and have lower indicators of psychological health compared to a group of working youth. The results obtained can be used to implement psychological practices that develop the resources of psychological health of young people and their resistance to exposure to risks.