Svetlana N. Chistyakova

Background. The present research is carried out in the context of the conscious self-regulation of professional activity.

Objective. It investigates the regulatory and personality predictors of reliability in rescue operations under stressful conditions.

Design. The research sample includes 87 rescuers (72 men and 15 women aged from 25 to 50 years). Respondents were asked to complete the Morosanova’s Self-Regulation Profile Questionnaire – SRPQM, the Eysenck Personality Profile - Short (EPP-S), and the expert questionnaire “Professional Reliability of Rescue Operation” designed for this particular study.

Results. On the basis of a correlation analysis, the structural model of the predictors of action reliability was constructed using the maximum likelihood method. Consistency indices showed a good agreement between the model and empirical data. The model contains three latent factors: “Self-regulation”, “Neuroticism” and “Reliability of actions”. As the model displays, the “Self-regulation” factor is a significant predictor of professional action reliability. There are two indicator variables for the factor “Self-regulation”: the self-regulation reliability considered as its stability in the stressful situations, and the rescuers’ levels of development of professionally critical regulatory features - modeling of conditions significant for the achievement of goals and the programming of actions. The study results also show that personality dispositions (by Eysenck) have only indirect influence on action reliability. As the structural model reveals, the conscious self-regulation is a mediator in the relationship of neuroticism traits and action reliability.

Conclusion. The conscious self-regulation is a significant predictor of professional action reliability under stressful conditions. It is also the mediator of the effects of personality dispositions on the reliability of action.