[Factor structure of coping behavior of curious elderly people.]

An increase in the share of elderly people in the total population of Russia determines the theoretical and practical significance of studies aimed at improving social adaptation and the productivity of a person's life in retirement age. The relevance of the study is due to the contradiction between the theoretical and practical significance of the problem of coping behavior of older people and its insufficient development in gerontopsychology. The purpose of the study was to establish the theoretical basis for conducting the factor analysis of coping behaviour in the elderly studying at the University and to analyse the findings. Some theoretical and empirical methods with psychodiagnostic techniques were used, such as Heim`s coping technique, Lazarus and Folkman's model of coping (adapted by T.Kryukova, E.Kuftyak), Maddi`s hardiness survey (adapted by D.Leontyev), and Vodopyanova and Stein`s scale of optimism and activity. We applied the following methods of the mathematical and statistical analysis: descriptive statistics, Pearson criterion χ2 (Chi-square test), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), principal component analysis with a Varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization using the statistical package program StatSoft Statistica for Windows 10.0 and IBM SPSS Statistics 23. The empirical research was conducted in the University for Elderly, the regional branch of the National Non-Governmental Organization «Znanie» in Chelyabinsk. The sample comprised 101 people with the median age of 68,2 years. The factor analysis detected and verified a latent structure of coping behaviour in the elderly consisting of 7 key components classified by the degree of preference. Adaptive and relatively adaptive behavioural and cognitive coping styles (based on 3 out of 7 factors) that are both problem and self-preservation oriented prevail in the factor structure of coping behaviour in the subjects.