THE INFLUENCE OF UNHEALTHY NEUROTICISM ON THE PECULIARITIES OF PERSONAL DECISION MAKING

The aim: To determine the influence of unhealthy neuroticism (the high level of personal neuroticism) on the properties of the decision-making process, to identify the differences in the decision-making process features of persons with high and low levels of neuroticism.

Materials and methods: A comparative design was used with two contrasting groups, which differed in the level of neuroticism. Causal relationships were defined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The methods «Diagnosis of the neurotic personality tendency" (L. Vasserman), "Diagnosis of decision-making features" (D. Myroshnyk, O. Savchenko), "Locus of control" (O. Ksenofontova) were used for diagnosis.

Results: It was identified that individuals with a high level of neurotic personality tendency have exhibited less self-control in the decision-making process (p <0.01), have formed a pessimistic expectations of the ways in which decisions should be fulfilled (p <0.01). A high level of neurotic personality tendency has occurred mostly in students with a high level of external locus of control (p <0.01), a low assessment of self-competence (p <0.01), low internality in the field of interpersonal relations (p <0.05), unformed willingness to overcome difficulties (p <0.05). The level of neuroticism is an important factor of the peculiarities of decision-making process (self-control (p <0.001) and optimistic expectations (p <0.02)). The general level of internality has determined the level of neurotic personality tendency (p <0.02).

Conclusions: Unhealthy neuroticism, which manifests itself in a high level of neurotic personality tendency, is a risk factor of mental health, and it prevents timely make appropriate decisions. The high level of external locus of control mediately (through increasing the level of neurotic personality tendency) affects the procedural and effective properties of the decision-making process.