Individual and psychological peculiarities as predictors of stress formation in the process of activity

<p><strong>Context and relevance.</strong> Stress can arise in any situation when the activity makes demands that exceed the resources available to a person. A significant role in the process of assessing this discrepancy is played by the individual's subjective idea of ​​his or her own capabilities necessary for active influence on the problematic situation. The individual psychological characteristics of the subject, including the coping strategies and defense mechanisms used by him or her, can act both as personal resources capable of counteracting the negative factors of the stressful environment and increasing the effectiveness of activity, and as determinants that cause the formation and development of stress. Objective: to identify individual psychological characteristics that determine the level of an individual’s stress resistance. <strong>Hypothesis.</strong> There are significant relationships between the individual psychological characteristics of the subject and the level of stress resistance. <strong>Methods and materials.</strong> The study with three independent samples involved 110 students of higher education. The psychodiagnostic complex included methods aimed at measuring the level of acute and chronic stress, stress resistance, coping strategies and defense mechanisms, as well as a questionnaire aimed at identifying and assessing clinical conditions. <strong>Results.</strong> Based on the results of the study, there were identified some indicators of stress resistance for each of the three groups of respondents, studying at different stages of education. And there was also found out a relationship between the stress resistance and the use of unconscious defense mechanisms. According to the results of the empirical study we can expand the understanding of the relationship between the choice of coping strategies in the process of activity and the conditionality of this choice by individual and psychological peculiarities of the subject. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>According to the data obtained, there are relationships between the choice of unconscious defense mechanisms or active coping strategies, the level of stress and the degree of stress resistance, which largely determines the productivity of the respondents. The following coping strategies were identified as predictors that determine the formation of stress in the process of activity: “avoidance” and “aggressive actions” and the defense mechanisms “regression”, “substitution” and “rationalization”. On the contrary, the use of such a coping strategy as assertive actions will contribute to increase stress resistance. Also, the data obtained can form the basis for creating a multifactorial complex of preventive measures aimed at reducing the probability of developing distress in the process of activity and increase their level of stress resistance.</p>