YOUNG, Ahead of Print.
Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to warfare and military violence. In this study, we aim to shed light on adolescents’ experiences during times of war in a natural help-seeking environment. We use survey data obtained from two real-time online chat services designed for Ukrainian-speaking children and adolescents and explore young people’s (n = 1,471) personal experiences during Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It was found that the most common topic that the adolescents wanted to talk about was mental well-being (30%), followed by the topic of personal relationships (29%) and home and family (22%). It is alarming that over 130 adolescents in our sample talked about self-harming or suicidality, and over a hundred expressed an unwillingness to live. As the war continues effective ways to support the mental well-being of young people and to treat mental health problems should be sought.