Resource model of the self-esteem structure and its impact on the stress-coping strategies of police officers

Gulshat S. Chovdyrova 1, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; ;

Elena V. Ivanova 1, Psychologist of Personnel Service; ;

Sophia V. Prokurova2, 3, Candidate of Sciences (in Psychology), associate-professor at the Department of Sociology, General and Legal Psychology; ;

Citation: Chovdyrova G. S., Ivanova E. V., Prokurova S. V., Tyurin P. T. Resource model of self-esteem structure and its influence on stress-coping strategies of police officers. Psychopedagogy in Law Enforcement. 2022. Vol. 27, No. 1(88). Pp. 18–24. 24412/1999-6241-2022-188-18-24

Relevance and significance. In our opinion, it is not scientifically justified to endlessly expand the boundaries of intrapersonal resources, since each element called a resource requires empirical evidence of its resourcefulness, otherwise all mental components of the organism, for example, mental processes, mental properties, formations, states, can be attributed to internal mental resources without evidence. Therefore, at present the problem is to present evidence of the existence of mechanisms of action and interaction of each resource, considered within the framework of adaptability of personal coping, under stress, so that they can be adjusted when applied, if necessary.

Lazarus and Folkman [1] and their followers, within the framework of coping strategies, returned to the resource approach as intrapersonal and social mechanisms of coping behavior. However, in the study of human resources in the activity of the individual, it has not yet been clarified from where a person constantly draws these resources in daily stressful situations. Therefore, the so-called resource model of stress is being increasingly discussed, in order to cope with which a person must take these resources from somewhere.

According to Hobfol and co-authors [2–4] in this model, stress develops as a result of externally caused losses: fire, earthquake, death of children, parents, divorce, etc.; or with internal: illness, depression, etc., or with the threat of these situations. These authors believe that in the resource model, stress is assessed through the category of loss or expenditure of resources. It should be noted that this model of stress has received a conceptual justification in relation to the extreme conditions of social processes.

Therefore, we consider it relevant to study self-esteem as a resource for coping with extreme situations.

The self-assessment of police officers as representatives of the executive power in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia is of particular interest, both from the point of view of their social status and their moral and legal relationships with the population. The specifics of these relationships are based on a deliberately conflicting legal basis, since offenders are hiding from justice, the police are forced to detain them and bring them to court. However, it is known that the process of search, detention, search, and other operational search activities (ORM), regulated by law, poses a potential threat to the life and health of both parties. Since these events in the activities of the police are of a permanent nature, which is fraught with the accumulation of fatigue and depletion of energy potential (с 4страницыTherefore, it is necessary to look for additional resources that would help adaptive coping with such stressful situations.

This is necessary, respectively, to develop measures for the prevention and psychocorrection of maladaptive disorders and to train future police officers in these measures [5–8].

According to R. Lazarus and S. Folkman, the assessment of the situation and the qualities of its controllability and uncontrollability predetermines the use of a certain type of coping by a person. So, in controlled situations, in most cases, problem-oriented coping is chosen, in uncontrolled situations — emotionally-oriented. Police officers have both situations, since their activities are connected both with social cataclysms, when the solution of the problem does not depend on a particular policeman, and with private conflict clashes, when the solution of the problem is not controlled and depends on all participants in the events.

According to S. Hobfol and co-authors, the loss of both internal resources (as a result of burnout and exhaustion) and external — socially significant resources (in the form of material values, etc.), can currently be the main cause of stress in police officers. The role of internal resources, such as self-esteem, in coping with stress has not yet been studied empirically in police officers. But since it is necessary to first touch on theoretical and methodological justifications, for brevity we have compiled a theoretical model (Table.). This allowed us to justify our choice of the object of research.

The object of our research we chose self-esteem as a Self-concept of personality, which can assess difficult situations from the point of view of the individual’s own capabilities and allows you to control the outcomes of situations, i.e. the ability to cope with them in time when well-being is threatened.

The subject of the study is an experimental study of the connections of psychological mechanisms of the influence of self-esteem as an “I” structure on the adaptability of coping (coping) behavior of police officers under stress.

The purpose of this study is to determine the possibilities of adaptation of police officers to stressful conditions of activity through the level of expression of their adequate self-esteem in extreme conditions.

Tasks: to identify the level of severity of self-esteem (overestimated-underestimated) in police officers; to assess the adaptability of coping depending on it in order to protect the psychological health of police officers from the threat of negative effects of stress.

The scientific novelty consists in an attempt to determine the role of self-esteem in the resource model of stress, in an experiment, by identifying the connections of its internal overstated-understated mechanisms for evaluating coping behavior strategies for developing adequate methods of psychoprophylaxis, psychocorrection and training of future police officers in the future.

Table. Justification of the coping resource model of the structure of self-esteem of the individual

Serial number	The authors of theories and methods of self-esteem diagnostics and their vision of the structure of the connection of the Self-concept with stress and with the choice of coping strategies
1. William James	Developed the characteristics of the two extreme types of self-assessment, which include two opposite feelings: complacency inflated self-esteem (samopoczucie, arrogance, arrogance); and dissatisfaction — low self-esteem, (modesty, anxiety, despair, shame), formula =success/claims. Later, the average optimal self-esteem was also recognized
2. Z. Freud	When the «I» acts in favor of the «It», then the «Super-I» and the «I»-the real conflict. In such a situation, a person needs to be saved with the help of such protective mechanisms as repression, projection, regression, sublimation, etc., described by Z. Freud in his psychoanalysis. This circumstance, studied by the author, speaks about the mechanism of transition of unconscious reactions into conscious behavior through sublimation in different life situations
3. R. Rogers	Believed that in the case of significant differences between the «I»-ideal and the «I»-real, a person feels psychological dissonance, since the «I»-ideal is an image of the «I» that a person would like to match and that this tendency is hereditary and inherent in any person as a desire for selfhood. Rogers revealed that some subjects can create a false image of themselves, trying to look better, they represent a positive, but false Self-concept. This formed the basis of his client-centered psychotherapy
4. Ch. Cooley	Put forward the concept of the «mirror Self», proving that a person's self-esteem is based on the opinions of others and is formed in a group where a person integrates his values and beliefs into this environment. Cooley believed that where there is no social communication, there can be no developed thinking
5. D. Mead	Supplemented Cooley's theory, believing that the development of the Self-concept of a person is a social process taking place inside the personality, from which the «I-knowing» and «I-empirical» are born
6. E. Erikson	Believed that the Self-identity of a person, being formed in parallel with the group, develops gradually, preparing to communicate with a wide social circle and society is interested in providing people with such an opportunity (cooperation)
7. R. Burns	According to Burns, is predisposed to maladaptive behavior, conscious, but not always coincident 3-attitudes in behavior: 1) the real Self — associated with the perception of one's own abilities; 2) the mirror (social) Self — related to how others see him; 3) ideal Self — related to a person's ideas about how he would like to see himself. The coincidence of these characteristics is the basis for correct perception and behavior of a person, and is an indicator of his mental health
8. L. Festinger	Formulated the theory of cognitive dissonance, which confirms both the presence of psychological defense mechanisms and the presence of intrapersonal conflict between the parts I according to Freud and Burns
9. G. Selye	Stress is a general adaptation syndrome (combines physiological, clinical, psychological and behavioral indicators of personality adaptation), which affects the choice of coping strategies in society. Types of copings: fight, flight and cooperation
10. R. Lazarus and S. Folkman	Their followers, within the framework of coping strategies, consider the resource approach as intrapersonal and social mechanisms of coping behavior. Since the self-esteem of a person in the scientific literature exists as an assessment of one's own vision and selfassessment within the framework of controllability and uncontrollability of decisions made and determines the use of a particular type of coping by a person, the authors believe that in controlled situations, in most cases, problem-oriented coping is chosen, in uncontrolled — emotionally-oriented. In the developed methodology of the authors, 8 coping strategies are proposed
11. E. Heim	Proposed adaptive, relatively adaptive and non-adaptive forms of coping strategies with cognitive, emotional and behavioral reactions that can be determined. It became possible to qualitatively assess the level of expression of self-esteem, its connection with the adaptability of coping strategies (for correcting the choice of maladaptive forms of coping in people who have experienced stress and those with maladaptive disorders - for the formation of adaptive behavior in society)
12. S. A. Budassi	Has developed a quantitative measurement of the level of self-esteem - the discrepancy between the I-real and I-ideal personality. This difference corresponds to the level of self-esteem of the individual. Therefore, it became possible to determine 5 levels of expression of self-esteem of the personality of the police

The significance of this study lies in the fact that it shows the relationship between the resource model of stress and the Self-concept of personality through the identification of the conflict between the real Self and the ideal Self, which will allow us to further scientifically interpret dissonant states and evaluate the directions of their psychoprophylaxis and psychocorrection.

Theoretical background. The study of the theoretical and methodological foundations of self-esteem as a Self-concept of personality allowed us to develop a theoretical model of selfesteem and briefly present it as follows (Table.).

In Table, we have developed and presented a theoretical coping resource model based on the study of the works of W. James [9, pp. 80–90], Z. Freud [10, pp. 27–57], K. Rogers [11–12], Ch. Cooley [13], E. Erickson [14], R. Burns [15], J. Herbert Mead [16], G. Selye [17], L. Festinger [18] and their followers in our country [19–25]. This model of partial methodology and methods reveals the structure of selfesteem and its relationship with the external environment and with coping and shows that:

• —    self-esteem as an internal resource, closely interacts with the external social resources of society as a genotype with a phenotype and develops [13; 16] as a property of personality;

• —    in extreme situations, self-esteem is an evaluative indicator, and can participate in the processes of sublimation, i.e. in the processes of activation of protective mechanisms, and can also show conflictdissonant interaction of its parties [10], and in the absence of conflict — the state of adaptability and mental health [11–12; 15];

• —    quantitative and qualitative assessment of the level of self-esteem severity, i.e. determination of adequacy and adaptability with participation in coping strategies, is possible [24–25].

In addition, this model allowed us to assume the following hypotheses:

• —    frequent clashes between police officers and the antisocial part of the population may indicate an increase in the conflict between the three sides of self-esteem — I — (real, ideal, social), which may contribute to the emergence of cognitive dissonance and the choice of maladaptive copings, and, conversely, the predominance of maladaptive copings, will indicate the degree of severity of the conflict of interests between the three and the possibilities for the development of adaptation diseases in police officers;

• —    the types of reactions in our experimental group, among police officers, can be expressed in approximately

equal proportions, since a group mixed by the specifics of activity can show different types of responses (cognitive, emotional and behavioral) to professional stresses.

The material and research methods

The experiment involved 85 employees police services of the aged from 22 to 45 years, serving in practical units (operatives, investigators, interrogators).

• E. Heim’s test [24] allowed us to study 26 types of police response to a difficult situation of dealing with stress by three psychological processes: cognitive, emotional and behavioral by choosing the appropriate words. The choices in this case can be: “A” — adaptive, allowing to solve the problem; “OA” — relatively adaptive (helping); “NA” — not adaptive (aggravating)

Budassi’s methodology [25] quantified the levels of self-esteem of the individual and the relationship between the rank ratings of “I am ideal” and “I am real” by ranking 48 words, and determined the degree of conformity of a person’s self-image to objective indicators, i. e. the evaluative adequacy of the police.

Statistical processing was carried out using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to identify the relationship between two characteristics — the level of self-esteem and the adaptability of coping selection in one group of subjects.

The methods of conversation and observation were used to evaluate the results when identifying the correspondence of clinical-behavioral verbal information to statistical data.

Results of an empirical study

The number of choices of coping options for police officers, characterized their personal properties, respectively, 5 levels of adequacy of their self-esteem(to the Budassi method):

• 1)    high adequate — from +0.84 to +0.53 of them were detected, 21.2%±2.2;

• 2)    high inadequate — from — 1.0 to + 0.85- they were detected 10,7%±2.4;

• 3)    the average adequate — from +0.52 to –0.1 was detected in 49.7%±1.0;

• 4)    low from –0.09 to –0.32 revealed 10.4%±2.5;

• 5)    low inadequate from –0.33 to –1.0 revealed 7%±2.6.

An adequate level (from +0.52 to –0.1) was detected in the largest number of — 49.7% police officers. Police officers with adequate self-esteem openly assessed their actions in the conversation. They openly talked about their mistakes and critically overestimated their actions with the recognition of the mistakes made. At the same time, they noted that they have the necessary experience and relevant knowledge and skills. These employees revealed a statistically significant relationship between adequate self-esteem and adaptive choices: “optimism”; “problem analysis”. Their adequately high self-esteem from (+0.84 to +0.53) when studying personal affairs of some individuals correlates with significant achievements in activity, in our sample they are 21.2% 2.2. In these individuals with adequately normal and adequately inflated self-esteem, there is an excess of adaptive choices at the level of p=0.005, respectively 49.7% and 21.2% in total 70.9%. According to these results, it can be judged that more people with adequately normal and adequately inflated self-esteem tend to get into the ranks of the police.

Indicators of the nature of coping adaptability according to the Heim test:

• 1)    among adaptive choices (A) preference is given to emotionally-oriented coping — 88.2%, (optimism);

Behavioral — 24.3% (cooperation) in second place. cognitive — 21.2% (problem analysis) in third place;

• 2)    among the non-adaptive choices (NA), emotional ones also prevail — 10.5% (suppression of emotions and emotional discharge;) and behavioral 8.5% (active avoidance);

• 3)    among the relatively adaptive (OA), cognitive — 76.5% prevail (maintaining self-control and giving meaning) and behavioral 68.2% (distraction, conversion).

It can be stated that adaptive choices (A) statistically significantly prevail at the level of P<0.001 than (NA) and are emotionally oriented. In second place in importance among OA — cognitive choices 76.5%.

Discussion of the results

Assumptions that: frequent clashes between police officers and the antisocial part of the population may increase the conflict between the three sides of selfesteem- I-(real, ideal, social) was confirmed by the presence of a choice of maladaptive copings: emotional — 10.5% (suppression of emotions and emotional discharge;) and behavioral — 8.5% (active avoidance), but they did not prevail. This indicates their insignificance and the absence of a pronounced conflict between the sides of the I-real and I-social at the moment. But with long-term existence, they create a cumulative threat to health, with the accumulation of signs of burnout and signs of stress disorders. Therefore, the work of a psychologist is necessary to conduct psychoprophylaxis of the accumulation of these disorders.

Our assumption is that the types of reactions to adaptation and coping behavior in our experimental group, among police officers, can be expressed in approximately equal proportions, since the group is mixed in specifics activity and gender, — was not confirmed. There were different types of reactions, but not equally.

Emotionally-oriented-adaptive choices significantly predominate in 88.2%. We associate the predominance of emotionally-oriented adaptive choices precisely with the problems of the need for wide communication between employees and the negatively-minded part of the population, namely, offenders. Therefore, the communicative orientation of police work on the asocial part of the population determines the emotional orientation of copings.

In this case, we agree with the arguments of Sirota and Yaltonsky that the orientation of copings depends on the problem being solved and coping strategies can be combined, it is impossible to speak unequivocally about their problematic or emotional orientation.

Conclusions

This study, as a result of studying a theoretical model with empirical confirmations of hypotheses, showed that in extreme situations self-esteem as a Self-concept is an evaluative indicator, and can participate in sublimation processes, i.e. in the processes of activating protective mechanisms in case of sudden threats to the life and health of employees.

Adaptive choices statistically significantly predominate at the level of p<0.001 than non-adaptive ones and are emotionally oriented — 88.2%. In second place in importance among relatively adaptive: cognitive choices — 76.5%.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the level of self-esteem severity, i.e. determination of its adequacy and adaptability, with participation in coping strategies, is an informative experimental part of this theoretical model and confirms the assumptions existing in the literature about the resourcing of self-esteem as a Self-concept under stress.

More people with adequately normal and adequately inflated self-esteem tend to get into the ranks of police officers, which also contributes to their choice of adaptive coping strategies in the form of optimism (88.2%). Low inadequate self-esteem in 7% and high inadequate self-esteem in 10.7% indicate the possibility of cognitive dissonance and conflict within the Self-concept.

In the future, in our further research, on a larger amount of material, we will present the final more refined structure of the general self-assessment resource model, which continues to be studied on experimental material. This will allow us to build adequate psychocorrection and adaptation training programs in the future police officers are prepared for stressful and extreme conditions of activity. Also, to develop methodological recommendations for practical psychologists and teachers on teaching the choice of adaptive coping under stress and- correction of inadequate self-esteem.