Regional characteristics of adaptation of mountain region population in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic: Resource approach

The adaptation of mountain region population is influenced by the terrain elevation, climatic diversity, as well as social and cultural dynamics in the society. Thus, it is highly relevant to study human life in a specific region as a means to understand environmental and personal adaptation resources. Objective. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between personal characteristics (tolerance to uncertainty (TU) and intolerance to uncertainty (ITU)) and environmental characteristics influencing regional population. Materials and Methods. TU and ITU were assessed using S. Badner’s questionnaire (modified by T.N. Kornilova, M.A. Chumakova). The environmental component was analyzed according to respondents’ self-assessment of satisfaction of existential, social and development needs. The respondents’ assessment ranged from 1 point (minimum needs satisfaction) to 10 (maximum needs satisfaction). The survey participants were indigenous residents living in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic: Gulcha (358 respondents) and Sary-Tash (90 respondents). Correlation analysis of the specified parameters was conducted; Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated. Results. General and specific aspects of the assessed relationships in Gulcha and Sary-Tash were considered. It was determined that the general properties of environmental-personal relationships in Gulcha and Sary-Tash were the diversity of environmental resource interconnectedness (existential, social, developmental), as well as the key role in these interactions of satisfying existential needs in Gulcha, and existential and social needs in Sary-Tash. Regional differences in the relationships between environmental and personal resources are that in Gulcha, the deficit in satisfying the need for food correlates with a tolerant response from respondents, and a decrease in the ability to satisfy requests in the healthcare sector correlates with an intolerant response. In Sary- Tash, the population's attention is focused on satisfying the entire list of needs as an environmental aspect of resources that ensures the solution of everyday problems, but the appeal to the personal resource (TU, ITU) is not actualized. Conclusion. The relationships of environmental and personal resources of the population, arising during adaptation to life in Gulcha, record the diversity of responses of needs and personal properties with the significance of satisfying existential needs. In Sary-Tash, the population's attention is focused on satisfying existential, social and developmental needs without actualizing personal resources.