Factor Structure of Law Enforcement Officers’ Personal Qualities and Coping Strategies

Introduction. The problem of relationship between law enforcement officers’ personality characteristics and behaviour strategies in a stressful situation is under consideration. The aim of the study is to describe the factor structure of law enforcement officers’ personality characteristics and reveal their behavioural strategies in a stressful situation. Materials and Methods. The sample of the study covered 122 employees of the non-departmental security units of the National Guard of Russia in the Republic of Bashkortostan, aged from 20 to 50 with different term of service. The following methods were employed: the method of multifactor personality research (R. B. Cattell) (form C); the methods of coping behavior (R. Lazarus) and "Personal aggressiveness and conflict" (E. P. Ilyin). The math-ematical processing of the data was performed using the correlation coefficient (according to the method of Ch. Pearson), and factor analysis. Results and Discussion. Correlation pleiades reflecting the relationship of personal qualities and coping strategies, as well as indicators of aggressiveness and conflict of personality and coping strategies, prove the adaptability and effectiveness of choosing a strategy in overcoming various stressful situations, effective counteraction to stressors and negative traumatic circumstances. The following factors constitute the factor structure of the relationship between personal characteristics and coping strategies in law enforcement officers, these are: strategic, behavioral, emotional, social, cognitive, straightforwardness/diplomacy, rigidity/sensitivity, volitional. Conclusions. The psychological content of the main components of the structure a law enforcement officer’s personality is determined: strategic, behavioral, emotional, volitional, emotional self-control, empathy.