Digitalization as a Factor in the Socio-Psychological Adaptation of Students

This article explores the impact of digitalization on individual adaptive potential, defined as the psychological prerequisites for successful adaptation, essential for an effective educational process. The study identifies patterns in how digitalization reshapes students’ adaptive potential and its core components, or key adaptive qualities. A comprehensive psychodiagnostic approach was applied, including methods for assessing the development of adaptive qualities, calculating intercorrelation matrices, and using the χ² method to evaluate the homogeneity of their structural organization. The research involved two cohorts of university students in Yaroslavl (Russia), selected through stratified sampling: a historical group from 2014 (n = 78) and a current group from 2024 (n = 74). Both groups included students majoring in the humanities and natural sciences, ensuring comparability in key demographic and educational characteristics. Results revealed a significant decrease in the development of several adaptive qualities among current students compared to their counterparts ten years earlier. These changes manifest at two levels: the analytical level, reflecting a reduction in separate qualities, and the structural level, showing altered integration and coherence within the system of adaptive qualities. Structural transformations were found to have the most pronounced impact on overall adaptive potential. Collectively, these findings point to a new phenomenon, described as a “syndrome of decreased adaptability,” resulting from the influence of digitalization. The study highlights the need for targeted educational and developmental interventions to support students’ adaptive capacities in the digital era.