Family as a condition for psycho-emotional stability in a difficult life situation

This paper presents an analysis of the empirical study of emotional reactions, manifested depending on marital status in a difficult life situation. The purpose of this paper was to study the influence of a person’s marital status on his emotional response in a difficult life situation using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the theoretical part, the concepts of family, emotional stability and difficult life situations are considered. The collection of empirical data was carried out by the survey method (the author’s questionnaire, the Zimbardo time perspective questionnaire (ZTPI), adapted by O.V. Mitina, E.T. Sokolova, A. Syrtsova). The data were processed by methods of mathematical statistics (Student’s t-test). The results of the study showed that respondents who are married are less susceptible to emotional states such as boredom and apathy. At the same time, the severity of the emotional state of fun was also lower among such respondents than among those who were not married. It was found that respondents who are not married to cope with negative emotions prefer to use coping strategies “Distancing” and “Taking responsibility” to a greater extent. Most likely, these results are due to a lack of spousal support and an inability to cope with a crisis and negative emotions using actively targeted coping strategies. Respondents who are going through a difficult life situation alone must rely mainly on their own strengths and take responsibility for solving all the tasks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on themselves. This work makes it possible to expand and clarify knowledge about the characteristics of the emotional sphere of people living in difficult life situations and the role of the family in this process.