Mechanisms of psychological defense and its dominant communication strategies in high school students and first-year students

The study of psychological defense mechanisms is relevant due to their significance in the development of personality self-regulation as well as their importance in teaching and personal development of high school students and university students. The objective of the study is to identify and compare the features of psychological defense and its dominant communication strategies in high school students and first-year students. The theoretical analysis of the problem showed that it is insufficiently studied. The research hypothesizes that psychological defense of high school students and university students has a similar character, since they can be attributed to the same age group. The study involved high school students of comprehensive schools (n=50, aged 16-17, 30 of them were boys and 20 were girls) and first-year university students (n=100, aged 17-19, 65 of them were boys and 35 were girls) living in the city of Bryansk. To identify the most common types of psychological defense, the “Life Style Index” methodology was used (R. Plutchik, G. Kellerman, H. R. Conte); the study of psychological defense strategies was conducted using the questionnaire “Diagnosis of the dominant strategy of psychological defense in communication” (V. V. Boyko). The obtained data indicate that the manifestation of different types of psychological defense and their dominant communication strategies in the two groups of subjects has a similar character. Statistically significant differences between the indicators (according to the F-test) were not found either, which emphasizes that the subjects belong to the same psychological age – youth. Indeed, the mechanisms of regression and displacement are the center of psychological defense in high school students, and displacement is dominant in university students. The data also show that such psychological defense strategies as placidity and withdrawal (avoidance) prevail in adolescence. The research has revealed significant correlation between non-constructive defense communication strategies and immature, non-adaptive types of psychological defense in high school students and university students. The gathered data contribute to a more complete understanding of the patterns of behavior self-regulation in senior schoolchildren and first-year students. The results can be used in counseling and psychocorrective work of a psychologist, as well as in the process of teaching and personal development of high school students and university students.