Numerous experimental studies have revealed that two statistical measures of biological populations—(a) the correlation between certain parameters of their members and (b) the dispersion of theses parameters—simultaneously increase under stress conditions. Later on, this effect was confirmed also for financial systems. In our study we tested the applicability of these two stress-indicating statistical measures to Ukrainian society. We examined the prolonged stress period preceding the 2014 Ukrainian economic and political crisis. We considered the dynamics of 19 major public fears which got spread in the Ukrainian society during this period: of economic regress, of breakdown of the state, of losing sovereignty, etc. The study revealed that there was a simultaneous increase in the total correlation between the fears (by about 64 per cent) and also in their statistical dispersion (by 29 per cent) during the pre-crisis years. It is suggested that these measures may be a useful tool for monitoring stress onset and for possible steps that can be taken to prevent societal crises.

中文翻译：

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乌克兰社会的公众恐惧

大量的实验研究表明，在压力条件下，生物种群的两种统计测量值（a）其成员某些参数之间的相关性和（b）这些参数的分散性同时增加。后来，对于金融系统也证实了这种影响。在我们的研究中，我们测试了这两种压力指示统计方法在乌克兰社会中的适用性。我们研究了2014年乌克兰经济和政治危机之前长期紧张的时期。我们考虑了在此期间在乌克兰社会中传播的19种主要公众恐惧的态势：经济倒退，国家崩溃，主权丧失等。该研究表明，在危机前的几年中，恐惧之间的总体相关性同时增加了（约64％），而统计上的分散性也同时增加了（29％）。建议这些措施可能是监测压力发作和采取预防社会危机的可能步骤的有用工具。