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Bulletin of Practical Psychology of Education
2026. Vol. 23, no. 1, 21–41
doi:10.17759/bppe.2026230102
ISSN: 2658-3100 (online)

Features of protective and coping behavior of students in the digital educational environment

 
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Abstract

Abstract Context and relevance. The ability to cope with difficulties is a vital necessity of modern man. Given the existence of young people in two spaces — real and digital — the question of coping methods and the degree of their effectiveness in the digital environment becomes important. In particular, the educational environment has undergone changes, in which the use of digital technologies is becoming one of the priorities. Students are forced to adapt to new forms of knowledge acquisition, which carries certain risks. Objective. To identify the features of protective and coping behavior of students in the digital educational environment, depending on the gender factor and the degree of satisfaction with the digital educational environment. Methods and materials. Five methods were chosen as psychodiagnostic tools, reflecting the assessment of the digital educational environment, diagnosing coping behavior strategies, protection mechanisms, the level of psychological well-being and stylistic features of conscious self-regulation of educational activities. Methods of mathematical and statistical processing were used for statistical verification of the data. 137 students of higher educational institutions and colleges in Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region participated in the study, 104 of them were girls and 33 were boys. The average age of the respondents was 19 years. Results. The dominant coping models and strategies are determined depending on the degree of adaptation to new conditions and the predictors influencing the overall assessment of satisfaction with the digital educational environment. Girls are characterized by a strategy of seeking social support, impulsive actions, projection and hypercompensation. Young men tend to resort to antisocial actions and harassment. The variables that do not depend on the psychological components in determining the degree of satisfaction with the digital educational environment have been identified. Conclusions. The study identifies predictors that influence the degree of satisfaction with the digital educational environment, which can serve as the main criteria for building preventive programs to develop coping skills in the digital environment.

General Information

Keywords: coping, psychological defenses, virtual environment, online coping, digital educational environment, students

Journal rubric: Axiological and Personality-Oriented Basis of Cooperation and Interaction of Educational Environment Subjects

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/bppe.2026230102

Received 27.06.2025

Revised 18.02.2026

Accepted

Published

For citation: Mironova, A.A., Zhdanova, N.E., Kosareva, A.Yu. (2026). Features of protective and coping behavior of students in the digital educational environment. Bulletin of Practical Psychology of Education, 23(1), 21–41. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/bppe.2026230102

© Mironova A.A., Zhdanova N.E., Kosareva A.Yu., 2026

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Anastasia A. Mironova, Applicant, Ural State Pedagogical University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9689-0305, e-mail: stacya2011@yandex.ru

Natalya E. Zhdanova, Candidate of Science (Education), Associate Professor, Department of Psychology of Education and Professional Development, Institute of Psychology, Ural State Pedagogical University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: zne1976@gmail.com

Angella Y. Kosareva, Lecturer at the Department of Crisis Management and Assessment Activities, Institute of World Economy, Ural State Mining University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0240-3431, e-mail: kosareva2015@mail.ru

Contribution of the authors

Anastasia A. Mironova — annotation, writing and design of the manuscript; planning of the research; control over the research; application of statistical, mathematical or other methods for data analysis; visualization of research results.

Olga V. Kruzhkova — ideas; annotation of the manuscript; conducting the experiment; data collection and analysis; application of statistical, mathematical or other methods for data analysis; scientific editing of the manuscript.

Natalia E. Zhdanova — conducting the study.

Angella Y. Kosareva — conducting the study.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and approved the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

Written informed consent for participation in this study was obtained from the participants (or legal guardians/next of kin of the participants).

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