The Life-meaning Orientations and Biopsychological Age of Correctional Officials

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of the life-meaning orientations of the penitentiary system staff and how they are related to their biopsychological age. The sample consisted of 70 individuals - 42 men and 28 women. The average age of the staff was 31 and their average length of service was 7.6 years. The study used "The Purpose-in-Life orientations" test (Leontyev D.A), the "Spirituality" scale in the "Resilience of adults" method (Makhnach A.V.) and the psychobiological age research method by Abulkhanova K.A. and Berezina T.N.. For statistical treatment of data we used t-test for independent samples, correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the study indicate that men have higher indicators of biological and psychological age, accelerated rate of biological aging. The health status of employees improves as they become more spiritual, achieve life goals, increase productivity, and are satisfied with self-realization. The following factors serve as predictors of biological age and rapidity of ageing: gender, length of service, life goals, acceptance of life events and psychobiological maturity.

Religiosity, Spirituality and Biopsychological Age of Professionals in Russia

“…Therefore, gender and age variables were excluded from the independent variables. As our previous studies show, these variables can affect certain components of biopsychological age-biological age, self-assessment of health and the rate of aging in employees of the penal system [2].…”

“…At the same time, according to the calendar age, men (average age 32 years) and women (average age 31 years) do not differ significantly. 2 According to the authors of the method, the higher the indicator, the worse the health.…”

“…Accelerated aging is often accompanied by a deterioration in well-being, the appearance of several psychosomatic symptoms and an increased risk of disability, especially among professionals working under conditions of chronic stress [2,3]. It is extremely important to study the objective and subjective factors that contribute to the maintenance of an optimal functional health status, longevity and durable professional activity.…”

“…Aging research is one of the most important and complex subjects in the life sciences and human health study; therefore, progress in overcoming its underlying challenges can only be achieved through interdisciplinary efforts. While various medical strategies for rejuvenation are focused on the biology of the human body and the metabolic processes, in psychology, emphasis is placed on the study of personal and psychological characteristics that affect the psychosomatic health of people and the rate of individual aging [2][3][4][5][6].…”

“…Psychobiological maturity is the ratio between the psychological and biological age of a person. Subjective psychological age is a criterion for a person's psychosomatic and social health, while psychobiological maturity characterizes the correlation of individual psychological and biological capabilities [2,3,11,12].…”