Personal Qualities of Candidates for Police Service with Different Combinations of the Expression of Motives and Volitional Qualities

Background. Analysis of the professional psychological suitability of candidates for police service with different combinations of motivation factors and expression of volitional qualities will allow developing recommendations for their professional psychological selection and successful adaptation to service. Objectives. The aim is to identify and describe the personal qualities of candidates for police service with different combinations of motivation factors and volitional qualities. Study Participants. The study involved 634 candidates for service in the Arkhangelsk police aged from 18 to 46 years. Methods. Motivational characteristics, volitional, intellectual, civic, individual personal qualities of candidates were measured by psychological methods. To process quantitative data, we used the statistical package IBM SPSS Statistics 26.00: descriptive statistics, Pearson χ2 contingency tables, two-stage cluster and multivariate dispersion analysis. Results. Candidates for police service are divided into six groups according to the expression of motivation factors and volitional qualities. It was found that 47% of candidates recommended for police service had internal motivation and highly developed volitional qualities; the majority of the “conditionally recommended” category were candidates of groups with internal motivation and an average level of volitional qualities (25.8%), and candidates with external motivation and a below-average level of development of volitional qualities (22.3%). A greater expression of intellectual properties and civic qualities is characteristic of candidates with high volitional qualities and internal motivation, as well as a high level of volitional qualities and external motivation. The least expression of intellectual and civic qualities is characteristic of candidates with low volitional qualities and external motivation, as well as with low volitional qualities and internal motivation. Conclusions. In order to develop service adaptation programmes, it is important to take into account the specific combinations of the expression of motives and volitional qualities of candidates for police service during professional psychological selection.