PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR OF MILITARY SERVANTS

Abstract

The conducted analysis of studies devoted to the issues of deviant and delinquent behaviour among military personnel shows that the nature of behavioural deviations in military personnel in war conditions differs significantly from those observed in peacetime. The experience of countries that have been in military conflicts shows that a significant increase in violence in confrontations leads to an increase in cases of domestic violence, violence against women and children both during the armed conflict itself and after its end. The psychological consequences caused by brutal military events go beyond the usual manifestations of post-traumatic stress or guilt and can take various forms of severe behavioural disorders both on the battlefield and in the post-war period. Deviant/delinquent behaviour in war has its own specific forms of manifestation: desertion, abandonment of the place of service and the battlefield, looting, self-harm to avoid service, acts of disobedience and manifestations of transgressive behaviour, military sexual trauma, machismo, violence against children and women in enemy territories, suicides and addictive behaviour as a result of combat traumatization, etc. In this context, it is important to understand what factors determine the behaviour of combatants during armed conflicts, because the very violent nature of war creates the prerequisites for committing crimes. Behavioural disorders of military personnel rarely arise for a single reason; usually, explanations of their deviant behavioural manifestations refer to the contribution and mutual influence of several factors. The factors of deviant behaviour of military personnel identified by domestic and foreign researchers represent a constellation of diverse psychological and situational influences, such as unsuccessful adaptation to military groups, low level of neuropsychic stability of some military personnel; excessive combat traumatization and prolonged stay on the front line; high level of combat losses in the unit; death and mutilation of comrades; observation of the consequences of the enemy's atrocities; uncertainty in the commander's competence and distrust of the commander; increase in alcoholism and drug addiction among soldiers, military sexual trauma, etc.