Danger perception and personality traits affecting on it healthy adolescents and adolescents with mental disorders

The article describes the study of perception of external danger (type and level of danger) in normal adolescents and adolescents diagnosed with mental disorder. The aim of the study is to recognize the peculiarities of perception of danger of diverse origin, to assess the connection of them with personality traits of the adolescents, including ones with mental disorders. The study contains two stages: pilot stage, for approbation of the set of tests to characterize the categorizing of situations, ambiguously dangerous or safe; main stage, which was supplemented by tests estimating personality traits. The objects of study were adolescents aged 13-17, the group with mental disorders having diagnoses of: “schizophrenia”, “schizotypal disorder”, “personality disorder”. The sample in the pilot stage was 46 people (22 in the clinical group, 24 in the control group), the sample in the main stage was 80 people (26 in the clinical group, 54 in the control group). The study recognized an increase in perceived danger in adolescents with mental disorders as compared to normal ones, and also distinctions in their judgment of danger. The study assessed the connection between perceived danger and personality traits. A significant difference of danger perception connected to the residency and education level differences within the control group was also found.