GENDER PECULIARITIES OF POLICE OFFICERS’ POTENTIAL

Abstract

The urgency of the chosen topic, which is related to the need to study the potential of police officers of both sexes, has been outlined. The latest research on the chosen issues of Ukrainian and foreign scholars has been analyzed, and the objective of the article was to present the results of an empirical study of gender characteristics of psychological potential of police officers.

According to the results of the study, the authors have revealed a lack of gender differences in the level of psychological potential within studied persons: 68% of future patrol police officers have a high level of potential; 27% has the studied persons with the average level of psychological potential of sample group; and the smallest – about 5% – is the group with low level of psychological potential. The gender features of potential have been revealed: formed with psychological resources in the group of women are “work on themselves” and “love”, in the group of men – “success”. The most developed psychological resources in both groups of the studied persons were “self-realization in the profession”, “self-confidence”, “help to others” and “responsibility”, which can be considered as a factor of changes in both professional development and personal self-development. The relationships between the components of psychological potential and decision-making factors in the groups of studied persons have been established: the ability of women to update their own resources and the desire to creatively work on them increases their tendency to rationality, moderation and procrastination, and the presence of such gender-colored features as sensitivity, empathy and openness to people, predetermine the probability of implementing such decision-making factor as “avoidance”. Actualization of the ability to use own resources of men and the desire for self-realization strengthens their ability to take responsibility and diligence, allows to choose the most appropriate options for behavior and rational decisions, decreasing conformism; in a situation of decision-making they are prone to productive coping “vigilance”.

The obtained data allow to study sources of potential of police officers (both men and women), to determine the ways to optimize their psychological potential and provide an opportunity to more effectively organize the psychological support of their professional activities.