NATIONAL DEFENSE PSYCHOLOGY: DEVELOPING A FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL AND CHARACTER OF A YOUTH PERSPECTIVE

: The youth are the successors of the previous generation's efforts to achieve wealth by safeguarding the nation. Indonesia has recently included national defense in its educational curriculum. Psychology is among the academic disciplines that include national defense courses within their curriculum. However, how it is conceived and carried out often focuses on national security without considering psychological factors. Indeed, a must is using a psychological scientific framework coupled with a youth-centric viewpoint. This study aims to identify the meaning of national defense from a youth psychology perspective. The research used a connotation of meaning analysis methodology, which included examining policy literature and scientific literature and then analyzing them about the semantics of national defense. Safeguarding the nation entails prioritizing security, defense, and welfare. The findings also indicate that resilience, self-actualization, and well-being are crucial dimensions of teenage psychology in safeguarding the nation. The capacity of youth to confront stress, overcome obstacles, and attain a more prosperous future serves as the foundation for ascertaining the psychological significance of patriotism among youth.


INTRODUCTION
Human progress is directed toward the younger generation to transform the nation into a more sophisticated and progressive society.The fate of a nation depends on its succeeding generations.The youth are a cohort that embraces the legacy of circumstances bequeathed by their nation.The objective is to continue attaining the existing state of prosperity (Pertiwi, 2020).The history of youth struggle in Indonesia cannot be separated from education (Naviah, 2022), not just for a work career.
Education empowers youth to acquire valuable information to enhance their prospects (Nurfatimah et al., 2022).This is a sign that national defense can increasingly be realized through educational programs.
In the higher education curriculum, a new phenomenon has emerged recently.Several colleges include novel topics in their curricula or instructional approaches.The phenomenon in issue pertains to the act of safeguarding the nation (Sembiring et al., 2023).National defense is the implementation of measures to safeguard a country's security, defense, and well-being (Manurung et al., 2022).The promotion of national defense education has contributed to the cultivation of patriotism.Nevertheless, the concept of national defense has a connotation associated with the ability to recover and withstand challenges (Bondarenko et al., 2021), patriotic struggle (Baxodir, 2022), and prosperity (Kurnia et al., 2023).The current focus of national defense education is to cultivate students' understanding of their collective obligation to contribute to the construction and advancement of societal well-being (Purwanto et al., 2020).
Psychology has begun to discuss the study of national defense (Leonardi, 2014).Psychology is a scientific discipline that mainly studies human mental processes ( (Davlataliyevna, 2022).Behavior is not just determined by external actions but also by certain cognitive characteristics that manifest in behavior.This suggests that the challenges faced by soldiers in the past required significant mental exertion (Shu, 2022), as if there was a big urge whose source came from a psychological condition.
Unfortunately, the mental condition of the young combatant remains undisclosed.It is unattainable to ascertain the psychological profile of youthful combatants in previous times.
Nevertheless, understanding the psychological character of this conflict, if available, has great significance.It has the potential to serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation as they strive to protect and defend the nation.Incorporating psychological studies into the field of national defense necessitates a deeper exploration of psychological science to operationalize it (Hikoyabi, 2023).
The research findings on national defense demonstrate the significance of the dedication of youth.The significance of cultivating resilience in one's personality was deliberated over youth (Suryaningrat, 2019).However, his fight revealed the existence of a distinct mental disposition, namely the ethos of nationalism.The study findings on student regimental units elucidate the country's nationalist ethos, which refers to developing a resilient spirit with combat capabilities (Ramdani & Ersya, 2021).The youth persistently strive to defend their homeland, regardless of the magnitude of the pressure exerted on the nation.The Palestinian children living in Gaza epitomize tenacity and fortitude (Aitcheson et al., 2017).Struggling without robust resilience will fail; however, a resilient mindset may aid in overcoming challenges.According to previous research findings, a country may transform if its youth are willing to exert effort to bring about change for their nation (Shukhrat, 2023).Examining the role and function of youth in maintaining regional resilience via their anti-corruption sentiments can ascertain this.(Alfaqi et al., 2017).Research has also identified several attributes of a robust nation, including resilience or the ability to recover quickly from difficulties (Asmawi, 2018).Resilience is the capacity to endure and bounce back from challenges and stressors.The nation's values must be achieved, and indeed, they must be achieved.This is the process of implementing and realizing the ideological principles of the state (Iqbal, 2023).
Education is a means used to develop students' character (Ginanjar, 2013).Particularly those about a person's character that aligns with specific values (Yunarti, 2014).As a scientific discipline, psychology offers insights into the development of personality and human behavior from a learningfocused perspective (Tresnani & Khoiruzzadi, 2020).It is imperative to equip the younger generation, who are the rightful successors of the nation, with knowledge, abilities, and mindsets that cultivate a profound sense of responsibility for their country.Education is a fundamental platform that significantly contributes to developing efficient learning methods (Sanjani, 2021) or according to the objectives achieved.Psychology also contributes to realizing learning outcomes (Alimudin, 2017).
For instance, when it comes to creating educational experiences that might promote motivation, cultivate self-assurance, and stimulate the inclination to participate in endeavors to safeguard the nation, Psychology shapes the development of learning strategies tailored to youth's specific traits and psychological requirements.
Researchers see that resilience, actualization, and psychological well-being are like one unit wrapped in the psychological dynamics of defending the country.Therefore, further study must explore the psychological meaning of defending the country.In particular, whether the dynamics between resilience, actualization, and well-being can be a continuous process.This continuity will later become the basis for carrying out national defense education from the psychological perspective of youth.So, the next article intends to conduct a study to get answers related to the psychology of national defense education from a youth perspective.The study results can serve as a foundation for implementing national defense psychology education.

METHODS
The study described in this paper used a connotative semiotic qualitative study approach (Bouzida, 2014).The study facts in the article were derived from pertinent and essential literature.
Literature sources comprised scholarly book writings, research articles examining the relationship between youth and national defense, and government policies about education and national defense provisions.The method involves transforming the meaning or connotation to suit the context of defending the nation.A fact analysis was conducted to identify recurring themes regarding the psychological dimensions of nation-defense endeavors pertaining specifically to actualization, resilience, and well-being.A youth-centric perspective was used to analyze the integrity aspect, a security, defense, and welfare component.Additionally, we examined whether the terms "security," "defense," and "welfare" could be equated with psychological attributes.The objective was to acquire a fundamental understanding of the psychology of state defense to discern how that understanding is transformed into the psychology of state defense.

Integrity in Security, Defense, and Welfare
Operationally, integrity is conformity between actions, words, and belief values (Juwianto, 2021).Congruence between one's words, deeds, and cherished principles defines integrity.Although inseparable, all three can exhibit either positive or negative integrity.Positivity in integrity denotes that its values produce a positive and proper effect.Negative integrity indicates an erroneous consequence.Security is defined as being in an environment devoid of disturbances or physical or mental threats.Security is an essential requirement for all people (Maslow, 2013).Establishing an atmosphere characterized by integrity achieves this.This implies that the environment establishes a sense of safety and assurance for everyone, transforming it into a dependable space.
Defense refers to an organization's strategy to protect its territory from various threats.In addition to attacking the opponent, the defense also involves defending against their assaults (Umra, 2019).The foundation of defense is defensive strength.Survival requires every resource (economic, social, legal, cultural, health, food, and technology).To achieve defense with integrity, it is necessary to manage every data source fairly and effectively.Welfare is characterized by security, contentment, good health, and wellness (Gischa, 2021).People can objectively recognize or subjectively interpret the concept of welfare.The degree to which subjective well-being predominantly depends on a person's perception of happiness and ease in navigating the social environment daily.The primary focus of welfare is on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which determines the total state income and subsequently allocates it towards implementing social welfare programs.Despite this, the GDP is not an ideal metric for describing the general welfare of society due to its inability to provide a comprehensive explanation of welfare (Russia, 2012).

Youth and Development with Integrity
Nation development must not stop and must proceed sustainably (BAPENAS, 2017).
Generational progression constitutes development.This signifies the existence of a succeeding generation within a given development.As continuity is maintained by transferring progress to succeeding generations, this signifies that the youth are the heirs.Youth are the most recent and strongest generation, which makes them potentially formidable competitors (Handitya, 2019).Their bodies are fresher, and youth have fresher (current) knowledge and ideas.Youth have great power to change a nation (Sihombing et al., 2023).Budi Utomo's strength in the nation's revival and students' role in national reform proves the great power of youth.Because they are fresher and stronger, youth have a tough character and don't give up easily.Tough means persistent and productive.The burden of problems becomes an arena for realizing persistence and productivity.Not giving up easily means that youth always try to find solutions to every problem (Widiatmaka, 2016).This will also be proof that youth can be more creative.

Security, Resilience, and Well-Being in Youth Perspective
Security and freedom cannot be separated (Ujomu & Olatunji, 2017).Youth have a unique perspective on interpreting and fulfilling a sense of security.In general, youth base their perspective on feeling safe in freedom (Vilchez & Trujilo, 2023).A unique method exists for adolescents to articulate and manifest a sense of security.Actualization entails transforming each potential into a tangible reality (Zaslavskaya et al., 2019), making the dream of security come true.The defense is operational via a process of resilience.Toughness is a defensive capability that is intrinsic to the character of youth.This requires the ability to endure any pressure or assault and adversity.Resilience encompasses more than mere survival; it entails building a way to overcome adversity.Younger generations are more resilient in the face of challenges and obstacles.Well-being is the pinnacle of resilience in the face of challenges and obstacles (Wendt, 2022).At first glance, it may seem related to stability, but it highlights the ongoing struggle to achieve stability in various aspects of life.For youth, well-being entails pursuing purpose in life and material prosperity.

Well-being)
At first glance, this has something to do with stability, but specifically, it shows a struggle to achieve stability in many aspects of life.Well-being for youth means striving to achieve meaning in life and become prosperous (Indrawan & Aji, 2018).This also indicates the need for behavioral commitment to make it happen.Psychology is a science that explains specifically human behavior.
In a state defense behavior, there is a psychological aspect involved.The process takes place in a transformation process; namely, emphasizing the importance of defending the country is transformed into psychological impulses.So then, the psychological attributes involved become psychic powers to realize state defense behavior.In general, national defense includes the resilience of all citizens (Suryatni, 2019), defending the country includes realizing the need for better human development (Kamil et al., 2023), and efforts to achieve prosperity (Nuryanti, 2017).
Resilience encompasses the capacity to endure and overcome any form of stress and the ability to revert to the pre-stress state of affairs.Furthermore, resilience involves enduring adversity and exerting effort to recover from pressure attacks.Life's stresses profoundly agitate people's emotional aspects, leading them to resort to actions to assuage their anger frequently.However, resilience is not the same.Assembling defensive strength to solve problems and maintaining emotional control are the focal points of resilience (Wu et al., 2013).The practical application of resilience is predicated on emotional control, self-efficacy, and problem-solving execution.Positive emotional regulation may, therefore, serve as a means to enhance resilience (Tugade, 2014).Additionally, emotional regulation is necessary for survival; resilience transforms into the fortitude to confront pressure.Empirical evidence demonstrates that positive cognitive reappraisal, combined with emotion regulation, forecasts resilience in youth.
Attainment represents the highest point of the hierarchy of human necessities (McLeod, 2018).
Actualization is maximizing one's potential to acquire significant life experiences.The fulfillment of one's needs will undoubtedly determine the significance of life for every person (Eakman, 2014).
Regardless of the magnitude of the potential capacity, this should never serve as an excuse for not enhancing said capacity.Alternatively stated, actualization is operationalized as a procedure that enhances the significance of existing personal capabilities (King & Hicks, 2021).Actualization makes it possible to achieve increased human development (Smykowski, 2019), for instance, in the domains of work, political, and educational competence, among others.

Psychoeducation for Resilience, Actualization, and Well-being
Not just learning content, psychological education to defend the country is a unit of action to instill the personal character of youth to be willing to make sacrifices to defend the country.
Educational targets start from the micro level, such as personal behavior (Rozak, 2021).Psychology as a science emphasizes personal differences (Ashton, 2022), while defending the country requires equality in rights and obligations (Soepandji & Farid, 2018).This is not a state of contradiction, but it describes a specific scope.Psychoeducation requires special circumstances to instill values regarding certain insights (Ariyanto et al., 2022).For example, it is educating for introducing, implementing, and developing psychological attributes in national insight.
The scope includes changes in understanding and the application of understanding.Furthermore, psychoeducation aims to strengthen people and help them anticipate future challenges.
Psychoeducation aims to understand life attitudes that support fulfilling life's needs and promote personal and social growth (Husna, 2016).Formal and informal implementation of interventions is possible.Formally psychoeducation is implemented in the learning curriculum of formal education.
For example, in a college study program, Informal means that psychoeducation is carried out through activities outside formal education.The psychology study program is the most representative of implementing psychoeducation in the learning curriculum.The lecture material includes discussions on resilience, self-actualization, and psychological well-being.
Psychoeducation programs related to resilience are carried out with mindfulness to build resilience in psychological aspects when facing certain situations (Farial et al., 2022).Every citizen must be aware of the obligation to defend the country.At the personal level, national defense is translated as self-resilience, which must be possessed and applied in everyday life.Furthermore, psychoeducation imparts knowledge and skills for people to recognize, enhance, and utilize their potential, aligning with self-development.This means that psychoeducation is carried out to provide knowledge and skills to recognize, improve, and utilize one's potential (Iridianti et al., 2023).
Psychoeducation can foster psychological well-being, for example, by encouraging people to see many positive things in life and try to make them happen (Dalimunthe et al., 2023).Furthermore, it turns out that psychoeducation about well-being also motivates people to do well in their environment.

Discussion
Indeed, the scope of education extends beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge.
Additionally, education instructs on moral values (Kaur, 2019), social skills (Cañabate et al., 2018), and other competencies.Education equips youth with skills and attitudes that support the achievement of positive contributions in defending the country.Operationalizing national defense psychology in education is like implementing a collaborative concept.The unification of education, psychology, and national defense can facilitate the creation of a young generation that is tough, responsible, and willing to fight for the country's development (Thabrani, 2013).The psychological aspect contributes to psychological aspects that can strengthen mentality and character (Nurrohim, 2016).Therefore, through national defense psychology education, youth can recognize the need for national defense and then prepare themselves to be competent in defending the country.
The attainment of good or positive moral values distinguishes education as a method of imparting moral values (Erfayliana, 2015).In addition to acquiring knowledge, one must also cultivate attitudes that align with the ethical principles of national defense (Wati et al., 2017).
Morality is a set of values containing principles and norms regulating human behavior (McGrath & McGrath, 2021).State defense education covers preparing citizens' awareness and responsibility in maintaining state sovereignty (Rahayu, 2021).Psychological education applies psychological principles in the context of national defense education.The aim is to develop the mental capacity of human resources.
Youth encounter profound emotional fluctuations throughout the stages of adult development.
Anxiety, depression, euphoria, and mood swings are symptoms that characterize these fluctuations.
The generation of youth who initially advocated for independence may have diverged significantly from that of youth who lived through the country's independence.However, the flare-up of emotions in response to pressure and discomfort is a shared characteristic.A youth's capacity to manage life's stresses can mitigate the risk of emotional fluctuations (Saputro, 2022).This ability is called emotional resilience (Rae et al., 2023).During their formative years, people explore identity and consciously consider the enduring consequences of their decisions.This investigation subsequently serves as the foundation for translating potential into reality.Adolescents and young adults must make critical decisions concerning their education and future careers early in life.Well-being on a psychological level can result from making the proper choices (Páez-Gallego et al., 2020), but the effect of choosing makes youth experience stress.
Theoretically, psychological well-being is obtained to achieve a satisfying life (Kardas et al., 2019).Positive psychology forms its basis.Regarding the mature personality, the fully functioning person, as posited by Alport and Maslow's notion of self-actualization, for instance, The capacity to autonomously make decisions, execute actions in alignment with one's life's purpose and trajectory, and sustainably cultivate one's potential distinguishes psychological wellbeing.A concise definition of resilience combines virtue and strength (Bullock et al., 2023).Consequently, virtue and strength are prerequisites for possessing resilience.Not only does resilience not occur naturally, but it is also the result of a life process.The process through which a person acclimates to adversity or challenges in life, particularly concerning psychological, emotional, and behavioral adjustments (Hamaker et al., 2023).
Well-being is a condition that represents happiness, satisfaction, and physical and mental health (Ruggeri et al., 2020).Well-being is like a concept that describes achieving a prosperous life.It was not just limited to fulfilling basic needs.However, in a healthy condition, a person can work productively, and economic income correlates with well-being (Satpathy & Ali, 2020).This success leads a person to gain prosperity.Well-being is not hedonism.Although there is an element of happiness, this is not the best state of well-being (Bramble, 2016), and the hedonism of happiness is due to severe consumerism (Soper, 2017).

CONCLUSION
Defending the country is about achieving security, defense, and societal development.
Defending the country is an attitude that youth must have an attitude to continue fighting to create a strong and prosperous country.The psychology of national defense is known through three concepts: preparing mental resilience (psychological resilience), building the courage to achieve goals and hopes (self-actualization), and fighting to achieve a better life in the future.The operation is to implement the ability to face pressure and discomfort and resolve every challenge to achieve a prosperous life.Like the words of the nation's founder, one young man can change the world.Change your life to be more prosperous.Even though we can explain the meaning of national defense from a psychological perspective, the research results are theoretical.This requires follow-up to be able to explain it based on empirical concepts.