The present research featured the problem of developing a cadet's personality during the adaptation to military institutions of higher education. Two groups of first-year cadets with different military experience underwent a comparative analysis. The research subject was the process of formation of arbitrary self-regulation in a first-year cadet. The research objective was to identify the features of the formation of voluntary self-regulation and personal qualities in cadets with and without military experience during the period of adaptation at a military institution of higher education. The first-year cadets with experience in military service proved to have higher parameters of self-regulation and personal qualities than the cadets without army experience. The main trend in interpersonal relations appeared to be the desire for dominance, which allowed the cadets to satisfy their needs and interests in the conditions of interpersonal competition. The article also introduces the phenomenon of spontaneous formation of voluntary self-regulation in cadet during the adaptation period, which cannot improve the low level of development of the regulatory and personal quality of "independence".