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Psychological Science and Education
2025. Vol. 30, no. 6, 21–35
doi:10.17759/pse.2025300602
ISSN: 1814-2052 / 2311-7273 (online)

The structure of professionally important qualities of child welfare specialists and analysis of their predictors

 
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Abstract

Context and Relevance. The article is devoted to the development of a structure for professionally important qualities of specialists from guardianship and custody authorities and factors influencing their formation. The contradictory nature of requirements for these professionals' essential qualities stems from the need to comply with strict legal norms while simultaneously adopting an empathetic and flexible approach towards clients’ needs. Objective. To develop an integrated structure of professionally important qualities and analyze predictors that determine the formation of these qualities. Hypothesis. The structure of professionally important qualities reflects the specifics of work for specialists from guardianship and custody authorities, demonstrates good psychometric characteristics, and shows significant predictive power regarding overall emotional intelligence level, subjective well-being, and procedural self-efficacy. Methods and Materials. A total of 2036 specialists from 85 regions of Russia participated in the study, with an average age of 44,02 ± 9,36 years, including 1500 specialists and 536 managers. Factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess the structure of professionally important qualities. Factors influencing this structure were identified using: author-developed questionnaire on professional qualities, Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire "EMIN", Subjective Wellbeing Scale, Uncertainty Response Scale, Russian version of Self-Efficacy Scale. Results. The structure of professionally important qualities demonstrated excellent fit to data, internal consistency, external validity, and high reliability. Despite differences in formal job responsibilities between leaders and specialists, they share a common psychological core of professionally important qualities. Conclusions. The developed structure reveals substantial predictive power related to general levels of emotional intelligence, subjective wellbeing, and procedural self-efficacy, enabling more effective training methods and support systems tailored specifically to key psychological and emotional aspects of practitioners’ work.

General Information

Keywords: structure, professionally important qualities, specificity of the model, guardianship and custody authority personnel, predictors

Journal rubric: Developmental Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2025300602

Funding. The study was carried out to fulfill state assignment No. 073-00069-25-02 by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated March 18, 2025 "Scientific and Methodological Rationale for Professional-Psychological Selection of Workers in the Field of Guardianship and Custody of Minors (Specialists of Guardianship Authorities; Employees of Organizations Exercising Specific Powers of Guardianship Authorities with Regard to Minors) Amid Modern Social Challenges".

Supplemental data. Datasets аvailable from https://doi.org/10.48612/MSUPE/e7en-ahkn-3v68

Received 13.09.2025

Revised 05.11.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Oslon, V.N., Odintsova, M.A., Semya, G.V., Kolesnikova, U.V. (2025). The structure of professionally important qualities of child welfare specialists and analysis of their predictors. Psychological Science and Education, 30(6), 21–35. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2025300602

© Oslon V.N., Odintsova M.A., Semya G.V., Kolesnikova U.V., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Veronika N. Oslon, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Professor, Chair of Developmental Psychology named after L.F. Obukhova, Faculty of Educational Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9625-7307, e-mail: oslonvn@mgppu.ru

Maria A. Odintsova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of Distance Learning, Faculty of Distance Learning, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3106-4616, e-mail: mari505@mail.ru

Galina V. Semya, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Professor of the Department of Developmental Psychology named after Professor L.F. Obukhova" Faculty of Educational Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Professor of the Department of Psychological Anthropology of the Institute of Childhood of the Moscow Pedagogical State University., Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9583-8698, e-mail: gvsemia@yandex.ru

Ulyana V. Kolesnikova, Executive secretary of the journal “Social Sciences and Childhood”, Joint editorial board, Department of Information & Publishing Projects; Research associate, center of applied psychological and pedagogical studies, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5328-8621, e-mail: kolesnikovauv@mgppu.ru

Contribution of the authors

Veronika N. Oslon — research concept design; instrumentation development; data analysis and interpretation; annotation; manuscript writing.

Maria A. Odintsova — ideas for mathematical analysis of datasets; application of analytical methods; visualization of research results.

Galina V. Semya — planning and organization of the study; supervision of its implementation; data analysis; editing of the manuscript text.

Ulyana V. Kolesnikova — creation of electronic survey tool; collection and extraction of data; evaluation of quality of questionnaires; formatting of the manuscript.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and approved the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

The research was conducted in strict accordance with ethical standards outlined in the Helsinki Declaration (1964).

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