THE DIGITAL INTEGRATION ECOSYSTEM: EVALUATING AI AND THE METAVERSE IN OVERCOMING THE LIMINAL CRISIS OF UKRAINIAN FORCED MIGRANT WOMEN
Authors
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Tetyana Poverlyak
Ph.D., Associate Professor, M.Sc. in Psychology, Independent Researcher, United States
Author
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2472-003X
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Liudmyla Lahuta
President, International Institute of Psychological Maturity Inc, United States
Author
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9967-778X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69635/mssl.2026.2.3.53Keywords:
Transit Identity, Liminality, Liquid Modernity, Digital Refuge, Digital Co-Presence, Generative AI, Proteus Effect, Intergenerational Approach, Ego-Shield, Cognitive Prosthesis, AgencyAbstract
This article investigates the psychological and technological characteristics of the formation of transit identity among Ukrainian women who migrated abroad (primarily to the United States) following the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Based on a comprehensive mixed-methods empirical design, the study shifts the traditional analytical focus from purely socio-psychological trauma to an evaluation of artificial intelligence (AI), digital services, and Metaverse environments as primary tools for integration. It analyzes the state of liminality, characterized by chronic uncertainty in life planning and an acute crisis of self-esteem resulting from professional de-qualification. A profound internal polarization within migrant family systems is identified: while mothers experience painful adaptation, their children demonstrate successful and proactive digital integration.
For the first time, the systemic role of the virtual contour as an existential "digital refuge" for the entire family is substantiated. It is proven that a child’s "digital co-presence" with peers in Ukraine acts as an intergenerational buffer, significantly reducing maternal guilt complexes and adaptation stress. Finally, a two-level model of constructing a "New Self" is conceptualized, where the use of a digital "ego-shield" by mothers to protect their former professional status is contrasted with the use of generative AI by adolescents as a "cognitive accelerator" to restore a sense of agency within the host society.
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