Emotional stability shows the strongest negative association with decline in students' subjective well-being under martial law¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i2 Among Ukrainian students under martial law, emotional stability correlated negatively with general decline in subjective well-being (r = -.49, p < .01), the strongest association of any trait measured. → Zavhorodnia 2026

Evidence¶

Zavhorodnia 2026¶

Zavhorodnia, O. V., & Shepelova, M. V. (2026). Big Five Traits and Tolerance for Uncertainty as Protective Factors of Subjective Well-Being of Students in Martial Law Conditions. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 22(2). https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.17767

q2 · i2 · associational · r1

Cross-sectional Pearson correlation analysis of 147 Ukrainian students surveyed in 2024 under martial law. The authors report emotional stability "demonstrated the strongest negative association with a decline in well-being (r = –.49, p < .01)".

"emotional stability demonstrated the strongest negative association with a decline in well-being (r = –.49, p < .01), indicating its leading protective role"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Personality Traits — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Extraversion's protective effect on well-being declines with age, significant only for younger students — related
• Agreeableness is unexpectedly a weak risk factor for well-being decline in wartime students — related
• Conscientiousness and tolerance for novelty show small negative associations with well-being decline; other uncertainty-tolerance facets do not — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Extraversion correlates negatively with well-being decline in wartime students, though less strongly than emotional stability — related
• Openness protects against well-being decline only when emotional stability is average or high — related
• Openness partially mediates effects of extraversion and novelty tolerance, and fully mediates general uncertainty tolerance, on well-being decline — related
• Distress tolerance and intolerance of uncertainty are consistently associated with mental health problems — related
• Faculty identify emotion intensity, personality, demographics and task nature as mediating factors determining whether negative emotions promote or inhibit learning — related