PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF EMPLOYEES OF HAZARDOUS PROFESSIONS, ACCOUNTING AGE AND PROFESSIONAL SPECIFICS

The article presents the results of a study of the psychological characteristics of employees of hazardous professions depending on their professional and age characteristics. The sample included 297 people of the following professional profiles: Ministry of Emergency Situations, fire service employees (19.9%), specialists in various civilian professions (23.4%), cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (56.7%). The diagnostic complex included questionnaires for the personality profile diagnosis, self-regulation, decision-making, self-control, the balance between behavioral activation and inhibition systems, value and life-meaning orientations, mental defense mechanisms and coping strategies, the level of anxiety, depression and psychological stress. It was found that the level of emotional well-being among employees of hazardous professions is higher compared to civilian professions. The group of subjects from various civilian professions was characterized by a high level of anxiety and depression, emotional instability and lability, isolation, indifference, suspiciousness, tension, unrestrained affect of irritation, risk-taking, impulsivity, and high expression of pathocharacterological personality traits. The group of employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was significantly distinguished by high indicators of planning and modeling in the process of self-regulation, high self-control, emotional stability, low expression of pathocharacterological personality traits and immature psychological defenses. Specialists at the stage of entering the profession — cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were characterized by high rates of attracting attention, affection, credulity, expressiveness, curiosity, sensitivity, activation of behavior aimed at receiving encouragement, as well as the predominance of such mental defense mechanisms as “projection”, “compensation” and “hypercompensation”. A general group analysis taking into account the age factor showed that the most disadvantaged group is the group of middle adulthood (26–40 years old), which is reliably characterized by high parameters of anxiety and low rates of self-regulation. The results obtained show the need to shift psycho-preventive work to an earlier age period in order to timely identify signs of psychological well-being disorders among employees of hazardous professions.