Psychological causes of cyber-aggression in orphaned adolescents

The article presents the results of a study aimed at analyzing and comparing the psychological causes of cyber-aggression in adolescents living in a parent family and an orphanage. The empirical research is based K.S. Runions’s theory cyber-aggression [1]. K.S. Runions describes cyber-aggression of adolescents through their motivational goals and ability to behavioral self-control. Data collection was carried out using a Typological Questionnaire of cyber-aggression, a projective drawing "Man in the rain", and a Questionnaire for assessing the involvement of adolescents in Internet communication. The study involved 223 adolescents aged 10-17 (22% from orphanages. Participation in the study was voluntary, and everyone had the informed consent. The results show that adolescents raised in orphanages are more clearly prone to cyber-aggression, especially in the case of impulsive-aversive and controlled-appetitive forms. Adolescents, generally, are more willing to display appetitive forms of cyber-aggression; they are able to show aggression against other users for the sake of reward and entertainment. The results of the study showed that the tendency to cyber-aggression correlates with sociability and hostility of the world, and in adolescents from parental families with the need for communication, demonstrativeness and aggression in adolescents left without parental care.

ROLE OF CLINICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS IN DETECTION OF A PROPENSION TO DEVIANT BEHAVIOR IN AVIATION SPECIALISTS

One of the major concerns of the aviation health safety management is enhancement of the flight personnel medical certification system. The investigation was focused on individual typology of civil pilots prone to alcoholism. Subjects were 112 pilots suspected in alcohol abuse and 189 normal pilots as controls. The standard protocol of investigations was complemented by the clinical psychological tests including MMPI, Szondi test, H. Eysenck intelligence test, and projective drawing tests. It was proven that ethanol degrades pilot's personality. The initial stage of this process can be diagnosed using the clinical psychological tests listed above. The authors propose a testing algorithm for inclusion in the crew medical certification procedure.

SELF-IMAGE OF THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

This article describes the current issues of studying self-image of students of elite technical university. The first-year students have been involved in the study. The cognitive and emotional components of self-image were selected as the subject of the study. Diagnostic research complex included interview methods, questioning, observation, analysis of documents and the author’s projective drawing technique «I am a student». According to the results of the empirical research, 1) such five types of images, as elitism, cognition, integration, difficulties, forcedness have been highlighted; 2) the interpretation of self-image of first-year students by the type of drawing has been carried out.

Coping strategies and emotional well-being in children with disease-related pain

Disease-related pain and the consequences of pain in children and families are important areas for further research inquiry. There are limited data on the relationship between children’s emotional well-being, their experience of pain, and the strategies they employ to cope with pain within the context of serious medical illnesses. Understanding what strategies chronically ill children use to cope with pain and stress is essential for clinical intervention. This observational study examined the ways that children and adolescents with chronic diseases cope with pain and adapt to illness. The data were collected by self-report measures and projective drawing techniques in a novel way to assess the emotional functioning in a mixed cohort of youth with disease-related pain (oncological, rheumatic, and cystic fibrosis). This protocol was administered to 47 children, aged 7–14, recruited from pediatric wards of hospitals of Trento and Rovereto (Italy). The results showed that coping strategies in youth with disease-related pain differed across diagnoses and with self-representations (as part of the self-concept adaptive mode). We also provide evidence of the applicability of using projective drawing methods in assessing coping in youth with chronic illness and associated pain.