PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS DETERMINING PROPENSITY FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR

The paper studies such form of deviant behavior as addiction, names the authors who conducted pioneer research in formation of special scientific branch of knowledge – addictology, which deals with the study of addictions and addictive behaviour. A review of scientific literature on the investigated problem is presented. The authors interpret the factors as the causes, driving forces of any phenomenon. As psychological factors affecting the development of propensity for addictive behavior among university students, the types of personality (extraversion, neuroticism), types of accentuation of the character and personality traits are distinguished. An empirical study was organized and conducted, which revealed similarities and differences in the manifestation of the propensity for addictive behavior in young men and women, as well as connection between specific forms of addiction with the considered psychological factors. Factor analysis was used to clarify the content of the psychological factors of the structure. Description and analysis of the results are presented in this paper. Three psychological factors have been identified: emotional and volitional, interpersonal and communicative, and conative. Each of them corresponds to the specific component in the structure of propensity for addictive behaviour of university students, and carries out its functional role in the development of this tendency. The analysis of identified psychological factors shows the influence of specific variables of each factor on the manifestation of the university students' propensity for addictive behaviour. The psychological factor, a “trigger” for addictive implementation, is the interpersonal and communicative factor, then conative (as the specific behavior features of a person in the state of addictive implementation) and emotional-and-volitional – associated with obtaining and maintaining of intense emotions. Understanding of the psychological factors of structure makes it possible to influence and transform them, and thereby prevent the development of young people’s propensity for addictive behavior.