Women's cognitive assessment of a difficult life situation (on the example of the COVID-19 pandemic) depending on marital status

This article presents an analysis of the results of an empirical study of women’s cognitive assessment of a difficult life situation (using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic) depending on marital status. The aim of the work is to determine the features of the influence of marital status on a woman’s cognitive assessment of COVID-19 as a difficult life situation. The theoretical part of the work includes the definition of the concepts of cognitive assessment, difficult life situation and marital status. Cognitive assessment is a process of categorizing external influences according to the parameter of their well-being or disadvantage for a person, in which resources for overcoming difficulties, controllability of conditions and the effectiveness of coping methods are also assessed. In our study, we consider a difficult life situation as a circumstance that worsens the quality of a person’s life, while the negative consequences of such an individual’s impact are difficult to overcome on our own. The COVID-19 pandemic was chosen as an example of such a situation in the work. The collection of empirical data was carried out using the questionnaire method (which included questions about a person’s marital status, his attitude to the COVID-19 pandemic), as well as using a questionnaire developed byBityutskaya for the diagnosis of cognitive assessment of difficult life situations. Data processed using Student’s t -test. Analysis of the results of the work showed that there is no significant connection between the phenomena under consideration. Based on this, we assume that the presence of family relationships is not a key factor in a woman’s cognitive assessment of a difficult life situation. It is assumed that there are more weighty criteria, the search and verification of which is planned to be carried out in subsequent studies. The work carried out makes it possible to expand the existing knowledge about the peculiarities of women’s cognitive assessment of a difficult life situation, as well as about the influence on this assessment of marital status. The result should be taken into account in the framework of family and personal counseling, social support and psychological education of the population.