Advantages and risks of perfectionism of cadets of higher education institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia

Introduction. The article deals with the nature of perfectionism, the content of which reflects both its positive and negative consequences. The advantages of perfectionism involve the students' efforts to perfection, self-organisation, and adaptive behaviour. The risks of perfectionism include deep-seated feelings of a person oriented to social approval, conformity to exaggerated standards, avoidance of failures, and overrated level of demands to oneself. This determines negative emotional feelings, anxiety, and stressful states. The aim of the research is to determine the features of perfectionism of cadets with high and low levels of perfectionism and to analyse the risks of its high indicators. The research is based on a sample of 73 people. They were divided into two groups according to the values of perfectionism: with high (n=34) and low (n=39) level. Research methods. The research involved general scientific research methods aimed at data collection, analysis, systematisation and generalisation, as well as empirical methods (testing, interviews). The research was carried out with the help of psychodiagnostic methods: perfectionism questionnaire (N. G. Garanyan, A. B. Kholmogorova), method of diagnosing the level of emotional burnout (V. V. Boyko). Results. The results of the empirical study on the methods used are described and analysed. The results of the study showed reliable differences between the groups with high and low levels of perfectionism, reflecting the presence of significant emotional problems. In the group with a high level of perfectionism the factors of socially oriented type of perfectionist expectations, orientation to exaggerated standards of activity according to the principle "to be the most successful", fixation on failures and mistakes, categorical and polarised thinking were revealed. This type of perfectionism is destructive and its consequences, identified in the research, are reflected in the form of negative emotional experiences, reduction of subjects' professional responsibilities, development of emotional burnout and mental exhaustion.