printThe Role of Values and Social Fears in the Psychological Health of Russians
Galyapina V.N.
Dr. Sci. (Psychol.), Assoc. Prof., Prof.; Chief Researcher, School of Psychology; Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moscow, Russia vgalyapina@hse.ru
Lebedeva N.M.
Dr. Sci. (Psychol.), Prof., Prof.; Scientific Director, School of Psychology; Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moscow, Russia nlebedeva@hse.ru
This article is an output of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the HSE University (HSE-BR-2025-052).
Galyapina V.N., Lebedeva N.M. The Role of Values and Social Fears in the Psychological Health of Russians. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 6. P. 85-99
This article is devoted to individual values and social fears as predictors of the psychological health of Russians. The study included 2056 respondents and was conducted in 2022. The analysis using structural equation modeling while controlling for socio-demographic characteristics showed that the value of Self-Direction generally reduces social fears, while the value of Security, on the contrary, increases them. The values of Tradition and Benevolence increase fears associated with collective survival, while the values of Hedonism, Power, and Universalism increase fears associated with the loss of personal wellbeing. The Self-Direction, Tradition, Benevolence, and Universalism values make a positive contribution to the psychological health of Russians. The Power and Security values contribute to a decrease in psychological health. Only fears associated with the loss of personal well-being have a negative effect on psychological health, since they increase depression and anxiety. Moreover, these fears play a negative mediating role, since they neutralize the positive effect of the Universalism value on psychological health and enhance the negative effect of the Power and Security values. The Self-Direction value helps to overcome the negative effect of these fears: it reduces these fears, thereby having the positive effect on the psychological health of Russians.
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