Individual and typological features and coping strategies of military personnel with different types and levels of victimhood

Introduction. The problem of preventing victim behaviour of employees of the Internal Affairs bodies and the military personnel is considered through identification of personal victim-forming factors by methods of psychological diagnostics. The aim of the work was to determine the personal correlates of victimhood in order to improve the psychodiagnostics conducted by psychologists for identifying tendency to victimization among military personnel and law enforcement officers. Materials and methods. The study was carried out on a sample of 50 members of military personnel, 19 of them are officers (average age-37 years), 31-contract soldiers (average age-23 years). The methods employed include: M.A. Odintsova test method "Type of role victimhood", R. Lazarus test "Ways of Coping Behavior", L.N. Sobchik "Individual typological questionnaire". G. Spearman correlation analysis was used. Statistical differences were determined by the Mann-Whitney criterion. Results and discussion. The article describes the leading coping strategies and individual typological features of military personnel, which determine the high level of victimhood and the formation of the type of role behavior - social or game role of the victim. A high level of role-playing victimhood was found in 15.79% of officers and 6.45% of contract soldiers. High level of social role victimization - in 21,05% of officers and 32,26% of contract soldiers. Dominant coping strategies and individual psychological characteristics for groups with different types and levels of victimization were established. The "social role of the victim" type has the following dominant coping strategies: "escape-avoidance", "distancing", "confrontation". The type of "playing role of the victim" has the following dominant coping strategies: "confrontation", "escape-avoidance". Military personnel with a high level of victimhood have such individual typological features as reduced spontaneity, increased anxiety. Conclusions. The victim qualities of military personnel were established: increased anxiety, reduced spontaneity, suspiciousness, focusing on negative experiences. These qualities in combination with the dominant coping strategies ("avoidance", "distancing", "confrontation") determine the behavior of respondents with different types of role victimhood in stressful situations. The military personnel with such type of role victimization as "social role of the victim" is characterized by behavior seeking for distanced communication, avoiding problem solution with the manifestation of conflict against the increased anxiety and reduced spontaneity. With military personnel belonging to such type of role victimhood as "playing role of the victim", this behavior is supplemented by focusing on negative experiences, careful consideration of their actions, including manipulative ones.