Study of Peculiarities of Coping Behavior of Cadets- Pilots of Civil Aviation

Abstract

The article substantiates the relevance of the study and development of coping behavior of future civil aviation pilots in the context of their higher professional education. The results of the study are presented, the purpose of which was to determine strength of coping strategies used by cadet pilots in difficult life situations, as well as their types of psychological defenses that «trigger» the mechanism of evading prompt and constructive solutions to personal and professional problems. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is a stressoriented approach to coping (R. Lazarus, S. Folkman). This approach studies the phenomenon of coping in terms of effectiveness and inefficiency of human interaction with stress factors. As an empirical research method, testing was selected according to the questionnaire «Strategies for coping behavior» developed by a group of scientists from the laboratory of clinical psychology of St. Petersburg Psychoneurological Institute named after V. M. Bekhterev, and the questionnaire of types of psychological defense (R. Plutchik in adaptation of L. I. Wasserman, O. F. Eryshev [et al]). The effectiveness of these methods is confirmed by the results of their application in examination of various categories of tested persons, by retest reliability, internal and external validity. To determine presence or absence of a linear relationship between a number of values of «Confrontation» coping strategy (as, in our opinion, the most destructive strategy in flight conditions) and a series of values of the most pronounced types of psychological defenses of the respondents identified in the study, the method of parametric statistics was applied, calculation of the Pearson correlation criterion. Based on assessment of strength of the correlation between the coping strategy «Confrontation» and psychological defenses «Regression», «Projection», and «Substitution», the degree of their influence on the nature of interaction of pilots in the flight and cabin crew and on flight safety in general was analyzed.