The family context in the experience of moral injury symptoms in adolescence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2227-1376-2026-47-fedKeywords:
moral distress, moral injury, symptoms of moral trauma, family, religious conflict, religious faithAbstract
The purpose. This article examines the issue of identifying symptoms of moral injury (MI) in adolescents and their parents in a wartime context, and explores the relationship between the experience of MI in these two groups.
Methods. The following methods were employed during the study: theoretical (analysis, synthesis and generalisation of psychological literature on the issue of moral injury); psychodiagnostic – the Moral Injury Symptom Scale (MISS-M-SF) (adapted for the civilian population by L. Zasekina and M. Kozigora); methods of mathematical statistics (calculation of mean and standard deviation, percentage and correlation analysis, Fisher’s φ-angle).
The results. The empirical study conducted allows us to identify the following symptoms associated with experiencing moral injury during adolescence: "religious struggle", "loss of faith" and "loss of trust". In other words, a trend can be observed towards a weakening of religious faith and doubt regarding God’s justice, as well as a decline in trust in people. Overall, 52.4% of adolescents show no signs of moral trauma, whilst 47.6% of respondents report experiencing MT during the war. In the group comprising the parents of these young men, 75.84% do not experience MT, whilst 24.16% of parents were found to have moral injury, the main symptom of which is "religious struggle". Respondents in both groups noted that all symptoms of psychological trauma reduce their quality of life and impair their functioning. Overall, the severity of moral injury symptoms is higher among the young men than among their parents, with the exception of the symptoms of "betrayal" and "difficulty forgiving".
Conclusions. A common feature of moral injury experienced by parents and their children is a "loss of faith". Despite the fact that symptoms such as "shame", "moral conflict", "loss of trust", "loss of meaning" and "self-condemnation" are not identified as key to the experience of moral injury, they are nevertheless more prevalent in children than in parents. Calculations of the correlations between the manifestation of moral injury symptoms in respondents from the two groups indicate a likelihood of increased moral injury levels in adolescents whose parents are experiencing MI. We see the prospect for further study of this issue in investigating the influence of parental moral injury on the likelihood of its development in children.
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