Introduction. The professional activity of people who have chosen the path of serving the state, as a rule, carried out in conditions of intense psychological and physical stress, is associated with the risk of the life and health of employees. The extreme nature of everyday life is reflected in the psychological and physiological well-being of employees and explains the fairly widespread occurrence of phenomena that, to varying degrees, hinder the successful performance of professional duties, which have a real impact on negative personality changes, which include the professional personal deformation of an employee. The presented study included employees of law enforcement agencies (Internal Affairs Bodies, Federal Penitentiary Service, Bailiffs Service).

Materials and methods. The total sample size was one hundred thirteen males and females. The main purpose of the study was to identify, describe and compare the features of the professional personal deformation types of employees of the Internal Affairs Directorate, the Federal Penitentiary Service, and the Bailiffs Service. The author’s questionnaire was used to study the types of professional deformation, the professional activity characteristics and a subjective assessment of the work effectiveness of law enforcement officers.

Results. To describe the personal characteristics and determine the character accentuations of the surveyed, the questionnaire of G. Shmishek and K. Leonhard was used. Regularities and significant differences in the development of professional personal deformation in the studied groups were revealed. The predominant types of professional personal deformation for employees of the Internal Affairs Directorate, the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Bailiffs Service are authoritarianism, super-control and conservatism. At the same time, overcontrol is expressed above the average and has higher values ​​in representatives of Internal Affairs Bodies and Bailiffs Service. Learned helplessness, on the other hand, is more pronounced among Federal Penitentiary Service employees.

Limitations. This study included one hundred thirteen law enforcement officers (the Internal Affairs Directorate, the Federal Penitentiary Service, and the Bailiffs Service), which suggests the possibility of expanding the sample size and including representatives of other departmental structures to clarify the patterns obtained about the severity of professional deformation types, their relationship with professional efficiency and their individual-personal markers.

Conclusion. The results and conclusions obtained make it possible to expand the possibilities of the methodology of psychological diagnostics of negative changes associated with a person’s professional activity, in particular, the definition of psychological tools that allow determining the severity of professional deformations.

Contribution of authors:

Korneeva Ya.A. — research concept and design, text writing, collection of literature data, collection of material and data processing, statistical processing;

Zelyanina A.N. — collection of material and data processing, text writing, editing, collection of literature data;

Martirosova N.V. — collection of literature data, text writing and editing.

All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: December 7, 2021 / Accepted: April 12, 2022 / Published: April 30, 2022