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Characterizing the Resilient Officer: Individual Attributes at Point of Entry to Policing

Karena J. Burke, Jane Shakespeare-Finch, Douglas Paton and Michael Ryan
Traumatology 2006; 12; 178
DOI: 10.1177/1534765606296531
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Characterizing the Resilient Officer:

Individual Attributes at Point of Entry
to Policing

Traumatology
Volume 12 Number 3
September 2006 178-188
2006 Sage Publications
10.1177/1534765606296531
http://tmt.sagepub.com
hosted at
http://online.sagepub.com

Karena J. Burke, Jane Shakespeare-Finch, Douglas Paton,

and Michael Ryan
Research investigating the process of adaptation in
newly recruited police officers is scarce and has yielded
mixed results. Some research highlights the incidence of
difficulty in adjusting to the role of police officer such as
predictors of elevated stress and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Others have investigated
why the majority of officers are resilient to the work and
organizational challenges presented. This article examines personality, prior experience, and coping strategies
of 94 newly recruited Australian police officers. The
data provide a picture of police personnel who are not
selected with personality profiling. Results demonstrated that the officers personality profiles, as measured

by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, were consistent with

U.S. adult norms, except for elevated levels of extraversion. Common coping strategies include positive reinterpretation, acceptance, and planning. Measures of
PTSD and positive posttrauma changes were higher in
recruits who had endured a traumatic incident prior to
joining the service compared to recruits who had
endured stressful, rather than traumatic, events. Results
provide a foundation for the longitudinal exploration of
adjustment processes in police recruits.

However, these PTSD figures also imply a positive

picture in that the vast majority of those involved in
policing are not significantly impaired as a result of
the traumatic exposure inherent in their occupation
of choice. Recent research recognizes that there is a
positive side to policing and argues that officers
derive positive occupational experiences from the
very situations that lead the lay person to assume the
job is stressful (e.g., Burke & Paton, in press; Hart,
Wearing, & Heady, 1995). The question then
becomes one of individual differences and the police
officers perceptions of their work and workplace,
rather than the work role and the predictable exposure
of police to stressful and trauma-invoking events.
To fully understand how these individual factors
effect police officer well-being, it is necessary to examine the status of these variables and any corresponding changes from point of entry as a recruit through
the operational careers of officers. This approach
allows individual difference variables and occupational
experiences to be examined concurrently, allowing
the characteristics each individual officer brings to the
job to be examined prior to exposure to the climate

ublic stereotypes and prior research that have

focused on stress in policing implies that officers
are at great risk of developing psychopathology, particularly mood and anxiety disorders, depression, and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD;
e.g., Biggam, Power, & MacDonald, 1997; Brown,
Cooper, & Kirkcaldy, 1996; Carlier, Lamberts, Van
Uchelen, & Gersons, 1998; Miller, 1995; Violanti &
Paton, 1999). This risk is considered to be a direct
product of inevitable officer involvement in volatile,
stressful, and traumatic incidents during their
employ. For example, estimates of the prevalence of
PTSD for police officers range from 7% to 20% (e.g.,
Carlier, Lamberts, & Gersons, 2000; Carlier, Lamberts,
Gersons, & Berthold, 1997; Hodgins, Creamer, &
Bell, 2001), indicating a substantial number of officers develop clinically significant levels of distress.

From the School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia

(KJB, JS-F, DP), and the Tasmania Police, Australia (MR).
Address correspondence to: Karena J. Burke, School of
Psychology, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 1342, Launceston,
Tasmania, Australia, 7250; e-mail: karena.burke@utas.edu.au.

Keywords: police recruits; stress; coping; personality;

trauma; posttraumatic growth

178
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Characterizing the Resilient Officer / Burke et al.

of the police organization. This article focuses primarily on reporting the characteristics that officers
bring with them at the beginning of their policing
career, with a two-pronged aim. The first is to provide a sound empirical base for examining long-term
effects on, and changes in, the occupational wellbeing of these officers. The second aim is to create
a picture of the new recruit profile that is afforded
in this unique environment in which recruiting on the
basis of psychometric testing is largely nonexistent.
Stress and trauma, although negative in nature,
do not ultimately lead to negative outcomes in most
people. For some individuals, trauma exposure can
act as a catalyst for positive adaptation and growth
(Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995). This has been documented in populations as diverse as ambulance personnel (Shakespeare-Finch, Smith, Gow, Embleton,
& Baird, 2003), cancer survivors (e.g., Carver &
Anotoni, 2004; Ho, Chan, & Ho, 2004), and college
students (e.g., Armeli, Gunthert, & Cohen, 2001).
Positive outcomes do not negate that traumatic
experiences can result in negative outcomes, only
that positive outcomes also deserve acknowledgment. A focus on positive outcomes may provide
valuable insights into the coping strategies of those
individuals able to successfully resolve their traumatic involvement. In a similar vein, the identification of police officers who do not develop clinical
levels of stress, and those who experience positive
and growth outcomes as a result of their occupational experiences, may also help in the development
of new strategies for the prevention of stress in the
police profession.
On entry to the police academy, officers bring with
them a plethora of previous life experiences, both positive and negative. In many states and countries, officers enter policing having been selected because their
individual personality characteristics indicate that they
are likely to be resilient to the effects of operational
stress and trauma (Goldfarb & Aumiller, 2004). That
is, their psychological profiles indicate that they can
effectively cope with the type of operational environment policing entails. However, these recruitment
strategies are not universal. The population of interest
in this study provides a rare opportunity to investigate
the more general characteristics brought to policing in
a Western culture as a function of self-selection, as the
only psychological variable tested at recruitment in
this service was locus of control.
Kaczmarek and Packer (1997) argued that an
individuals perception of job stressors is directly

179

influenced by his or her locus of control and that

these stress perceptions then influence job satisfaction. They identified an internal locus of control as
a desirable characteristic for a general duties constable because of its value as a mechanism for coping with stress. Spector (1982) proposed that
individuals with an internal locus of control, as compared to an external locus, would perform better on
tasks requiring initiative and autonomy as they tend
to look to themselves for direction. This trait then is
arguably an important one for police officers to possess and is often implicated as an aspect of a facet of
personality known as conscientiousness (Costa &
McCrae, 2003). It is on this basis that potential officers in the police force examined herein are screenedin during the recruit selection process (M. Ryan,
personal communication, April 2004). Thus, although
personality profiling is not specifically conducted
with this population, officers are selected on the
basis of their apparent ability to cope with stress in
a constructive way and their potential to use initiative and autonomous thinking as measured by locus
of control. They are not, however, subjected to any
other personality assessment.
Although locus of control appears important in
determining the coping mechanisms used by individuals, there is also a well-documented relationship
between personality at the trait level and coping. For
example, Shakespeare-Finch (2006) suggested that
people high in neuroticism use ineffective coping
strategies that lead to increased levels of distress.
Similarly, Kaczmarek and Packer (1997) suggested
that extraversion is related to more positive, active
coping whereas neuroticism is related to more negative, avoidant strategies. Thompson and Solomon
(1991) also reported a consistent relationship
between neuroticism and psychological distress and
found extraversion to have a protective effect on
officers who had been involved in body recovery.

The Current Study

This article reports baseline data for a group of
police recruits during training at the police academy.
The aim is to provide an outline of the personality
characteristics, stress levels, and coping strategies
with which these individuals enter the profession,
with a long-term focus on examining the predictors
of officer adjustment. This article reports only initial
academy data, with the aim being to establish a
sound empirical base for these future changes to be

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180

Traumatology / Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2006

examined and a picture of the self-selected recruit

free from the usual rigors of testing. The level of
individual traumatic exposure prior to academy
entry is also explored, as it has been argued that
prior traumatic life events can shape an individuals
responses to future stressors in either or both negative and positive ways (e.g., Carlier et al., 2000;
Carver & Antoni, 2004; Stephens, Long, & Flett,
1999; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995; Thompson &
Solomon, 1991; Violanti & Paton, 1999).
Hypothesis 1: As the recruits are self-selected, it is
expected that they will exhibit a similar personality
profile to adult population norms, with the possible elevation of conscientiousness as a function of
selection procedures based on locus of control.
Hypothesis 2: It is expected that there will be a positive
relationship between stress and maladaptive
coping strategies and a negative relationship
between stress and adaptive coping strategies.
Hypothesis 3: The personality trait of neuroticism
is expected to exhibit positive associations with
maladaptive coping mechanisms and with stress
and negative associations with adaptive coping
mechanisms.
Hypothesis 4: Extraversion is expected to have positive
associations with using social support as a coping
mechanism.
Hypothesis 5: It is predicted that there will be significant differences in levels of PTSD symptomatology and reported levels of posttraumatic growth
(PTG), with the recruits who have experienced
a prior traumatic life event, as defined by the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (fourth edition, text revision [DSM-IVTR]; American Psychiatric Association, 2000),
exhibiting significantly higher levels of both
PTSD symptomatology and PTG than recruits
who have experienced no traumatic life event.

Method
Participants
Ninety-four police recruits (57 men and 37 women)
were surveyed during their training at an Australian
police academy. All officers returned survey data,
thus corresponding to 100% of the training group.
Participants ranged in age from 18 to 52 years (M =
28.34, SD = 9.25). Forty-five percent had completed
high school, 18% reported having a diploma, 14%
had a bachelors degree or higher postgraduate qualification, and 13% had completed education to Year

10 only. The remaining 11% reported some other

form of educational attainment.

Materials
The NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa &
McCrae, 1989) was used to ascertain the personality
profiles of the police recruits. The NEO-FFI measures
five domains of personality: neuroticism, extraversion,
openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Participants were asked to rate their level of
agreement with 60 statements on a 5-point scale in
which 0 = strongly disagree and 4 = strongly agree.
Reliability ratings for the dimensions are good, ranging
from .77 to .94 (Costa & McCrae, 1992).
The COPE Inventory (Carver, Scheier, &
Weintraub, 1989) was used to examine the type and
frequency of coping mechanisms reportedly used by
the recruits when faced with stressful experiences.
The COPE has 52 items, comprising 14 subscales,
including both adaptive and maladaptive strategies.
Participants are asked to indicate what they generally do and feel when involved with a stressful incident on a 5-point scale in which 1 = I dont do this
at all and 5 = I do this all the time. Reliability analyses indicated good internal consistency ( = .86).
This instrument was used in a recent investigation
of job satisfaction for police officers, ambulance
officers, and firefighters in the same state as the current police population (Burke & Paton, in press).
This study indicated each of these instruments to be
a reliable measure within this police population.
The Hopkins Symptom Checklist21 (HSCL-21;
Green, Walkey, McCormick, & Taylor, 1998) was used
to ascertain the current level of stress of participants
at point of entry to the academy. The instrument
asks participants to report how distressed they have
been within the past 7 days according to a 4-point
scale, in which 1 = not at all and 4 = extremely.
Excellent internal consistency was found for the
overall scale ( = .91).
The Traumatic Stress Schedule (TSS; Norris, 1990)
is a short self-report measure designed to assess the
frequency and recency of exposure to traumatic incidents. Respondents are asked to report if they had
ever been involved in a specific event, how many
times it had occurred, and how long ago the last
event occurred. The TSS is composed of eight traumatic events and two additional items, the first of
which asks if the respondent has experienced any
other shocking or disturbing experience that has not

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Characterizing the Resilient Officer / Burke et al.

been mentioned yet, how many times it occurred,

and how long ago. The second asks respondents to
describe in detail the worst thing that has ever happened to them and how long ago this event
occurred. Based on these qualitative responses, participants were then assigned by the investigator to
either a trauma or no-trauma category based on
whether the event described could be deemed to be
a traumatic event according to the DSM-IV-TR
(American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
The Impact of Events ScaleRevised (IES-R;
Weiss & Marmar, 1997) is a 22-item self-report
measure designed to capture the level of symptomatic
response to specific traumatic stressors. It measures
responses in three domains: intrusion, avoidance,
and hyperarousal. Respondents are required to read
a list of commonly occurring adjustment difficulties
and indicate how distressing each has been for them
during the past 7 days. Responses are made on a
5-point scale in which 0 = not at all and 4 = extremely.
Scores are obtained by summing participant responses
to each statement. Internal consistency was excellent
( = .94).
The Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI;
Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) has 21 items designed to
measure the extent of positive changes an individual
perceives as a result of adjusting to a traumatic incident. Responses are made on a 6-point scale in which
0 = I did not experience this change and 5 = I experienced this change to a very great degree. This instrument was used to provide an indication of changes in
personal well-being following the same crisis event
examined for the IES-R. Internal consistency of the
overall scale was excellent ( = .96).
The instruments were randomly allocated to three
different order arrangements so as to control for any
order effect of instrument presentation, along with a
demographics sheet designed by the investigators.
The booklet also included a pull-out study information sheet for the officers to keep that outlined the
overall aim of the study and provided contact details
for the researcher. Consent was deemed to have been
obtained upon voluntary return of the completed
booklet, and officers were informed to return the
booklet blank if they did not wish to take part.

Procedure
Initial contact took place during Week 10 of the
recruits academy placement after a week at a compulsory training camp. The booklet was administered

181

during a normal teaching period (45 minutes) at the

Police Academy, without training or commanding
officers being present. The researcher was present
during all sessions and was available to all officers
before, during, and after survey completion to answer
any questions the officers may have had. The researcher
spoke to all participants as a group prior to their
completing the survey to outline the aims of the
study and to inform officers of the longitudinal
nature of the investigation. Officers were informed
that completion of the survey at the initial time
point did not obligate them to further participation
in later stages of the investigation and that they
would be contacted upon completion of their training and invited again to participate in the second
phase of the study. All officers were assigned a
three-digit identification number upon return of the
survey so as to maintain confidentiality and aid
reidentification.
To account for prior trauma event severity, officers were placed into either a trauma or no-trauma
group on the basis of their response to the event
described as the worst thing that has ever happened
to you on the TSS. Accordingly, 54% of the officers
(n = 51) were placed in the trauma category, as the
event described was deemed to fit the DSM-IV-TR
definition of a trauma. The remaining 43 officers
either described an event that was not objectively
rated as a traumatic experience or did not specify an
event. These officers made up the no-trauma group.

Results
Data were collated and analyzed using SPSS version
12.0.1 for Windows. Figure 1 shows a comparison
between the personality profile of the police recruits
and U.S. adult population norms. The figure indicates
that the groups have comparable levels of neuroticism,
openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness,
with police showing heightened levels of extraversion
compared to adult norms. A one-sample t-test analysis indicated that the Australian police recruits had
significantly higher levels of extraversion, t(93) =
10.76, p < .001, than U.S. normative data.
Table 1 shows the mean reported use of each of
the coping strategies measured by the COPE and
their baseline level of stress, as measured by the
HSCL for the recruits. The data indicate that the
recruits reported the use of positive reinterpretation,
acceptance, planning, and active coping to the
greatest extent when managing their responses to

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182

Traumatology / Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2006

Table 1. Reported Use of Specific Coping

Strategies and Stress Levels for Police Recruits
During Academy Training (N = 94)

40
35

Coping Strategy/HSCL Subscale

Mean Trait Scores

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
N

O
A
Personality Trait

Police Means (Aus)

Adult Norms (USA)

Figure 1. Comparison of personality profiles for Australian

police recruits and U.S. adult population norms.

stress. In contrast, little use of behavioral disengagement, religious coping, and alcohol/drug disengagement was reported.
The overall mean score on the HSCL-21 indicates moderate levels of stress among the recruits.
Examination of the subscale scores showed that the
highest mean score was for performance difficulties,
followed by similar scores for general distress and
somatic distress. Paired-samples t tests indicated that
stress from performance difficulties was significantly
higher than general distress, t(77) = 7.53, p < .001,
and somatic distress, t(77) = 8.78, p < .001. There
was no significant difference between baseline levels
of general and somatic distress, t(77) = 0.41, p = .68.
The relationships between the facets of stress
and coping were examined, and correlations
between the facets of these constructs measured by
the COPE and HSCL-21 are shown in Table 2.
Overall, stress had significant positive relationships
with the use of focus on, and venting of, emotions,
denial, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement, and alcohol/drug disengagement. Total
stress also showed significant negative associations
with the use of active coping, planning, and positive
reinterpretation. A similar pattern of relationships
emerged on examination of the HSCL subscales.

Active coping
Planning
Suppression of competing activities
Restraint coping
Instrumental social support
Emotional social support
Positive reinterpretation and growth
Acceptance
Religious coping
Focus on and venting of emotions
Denial
Behavioral disengagement
Mental disengagement
Alcohol/drug disengagement
HSCL 1, performance difficulties
HSCL 2, general distress
HSCL 3, somatic distress
HSCL total

SD

13.21
14.22
10.82
11.52
12.15
11.11
14.69
14.07
4.99
8.67
6.42
4.06
9.37
5.45
12.93
10.39
10.19
33.52

2.72
3.16
2.54
2.78
2.78
3.68
3.14
2.91
2.82
3.35
2.59
1.46
2.71
2.74
3.60
3.41
3.08
8.60

NOTE: HSCL = Hopkins Symptom Checklist.

Performance difficulties and somatic distress

showed significant positive relationships with overall
stress and a nonsignificant relationship with active
coping. Somatic distress also had a significant negative correlation with use of acceptance as a coping
mechanism. General distress differed from the overall pattern of results, and along with active coping,
planning, and positive reinterpretation, this domain
also had a significant negative association with use
of restraint.
The relationships between each of the five personality traits examined and stress and coping are
shown in Table 3. The data show that neuroticism
had significant positive relationships with overall
level of stress and each of the three domains of
stress measured. Neuroticism also showed significant positive associations with the use of focus and
venting of emotions, denial, and all three disengagement strategies and significant negative associations
with active coping, planning, restraint, positive reinterpretation, and acceptance. Conscientiousness
trends were almost the opposite of neuroticism,
showing significant positive relationships with use of
active coping, planning, and positive reinterpretation,
but they had no significant association with acceptance.
There were also significant negative relationships

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183

1
.73**
.53**
.51**
.12
.07
.57**
.42**
.17
.04
.09
.23*
.02
.03
.13
.21*
.18
.21*

.40**
.57**
.25**
.13
.71**
.46**
.20
.19
.18
.29**
.15
.16
.26*
.35**
.33**
.37**

1
.50**
.19
.06
.27**
.33**
.02
.12
.04
.05
.12
.01
.03
.08
.02
.02

1
1
.11
.04
.42**
.41**
.11
.17
.08
.09
.07
.02
.05
.21*
.13
.15
.49** 1
.28** .18
.11
.19
.06
.18
.32** .53**
.02
.10
.17
.02
.05
.17
.05
.15
.11
.07
.08
.22*
.07
.08
.11
.15

SSE

1
.55**
.14
.08
.02
.18
.03
.14
.23*
.33**
.27**
.33**
1
.07
.09
.12
.18
.08
.01
.13
.14
.23*
.19
.14
.10
.08
.11
.08
.16
.20
.08
.18

PosRe Acceptance Religion

Denial

BD

MD

AD

PD

GD

SD

1
.14
1
.29** .53** 1
.25*
.43** .25** 1
.16
.54** .40** .16
1
.27** .27** .29** .44** .27** 1
.45** .40** .33** .32** .34** .57** 1
.27** .20
.19
.24*
.32** .59** .61** 1
.39** .34** .32** .40** .36** .86** .85** .85**

F&V

HSCL Total

NOTE: Active = active coping; Restraint = restraint coping; SSI = instrumental social support; SSE = emotional social support; PosRe = positive reinterpretation and growth; Religion = religious
coping; FandV = focus on and venting of emotions; BD = behavioral disengagement; MD = mental disengagement; AD = alcohol/drug disengagement; PD = performance difficulties; GD = general
distress; SD = somatic distress; HSCL = Hopkins Symptom Checklist.
*p < .05; **p < .01.

Active
Planning
Suppression
Restraint
SSI
SSE
PosRe
Acceptance
Religion
FandV
Denial
BD
MD
AD
PD
GD
SD
HSCL total

SSI

Relationships Between Coping and Stress for Police Recruits During Training (N = 94)

Active Planning Suppression Restraint

Table 2.

184

Traumatology / Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2006

Table 3.

Relationships Between Personality Traits and Reported Coping Mechanism

Usage and Levels of Stress of Police Academy Recruits (N = 94)

Active coping
Planning
Suppression of competing activities
Restraint
Instrumental social support
Emotional social support
Positive reinterpretation and growth
Acceptance
Religious coping
Focus on and venting of emotions
Denial
Behavioral disengagement
Mental disengagement
Alcohol/drug disengagement
HSCL, performance difficulties
HSCL, somatic distress
HSCL, general distress
HSCL total

.45**
.60**
.06
.25*
.10
.17
.44**
.27**
.00
.46**
.42**
.46**
.39**
.38**
.52**
.63**
.44**
.64**

.05
.16
.09
.13
.31**
.12
.24*
.19
.08
.07
.04
.12
.07
.06
.14
.06
.19
.15

.09
.26*
.26*
.13
.19
.10
.27**
.13
.03
.01
.09
.03
.03
.07
.17
.12
.12
.16

.10
.03
.16
.06
.04
.02
.17
.08
.03
.01
.09
.03
.03
.07
.03
.08
.02
.05

.48**
.51**
.16
.18
.07
.00
.31**
.17
.01
.00
.29**
.28**
.36**
.20
.31**
.31**
.27**
.35**

*p < .05; **p < .01.

between conscientiousness and the use of denial,

and behavioral and mental disengagement, overall
level of stress, and all three domains of the HSCL.
The remaining personality traits exhibited a less
complex pattern of relationships, with agreeableness
showing no significant correlations with any aspects
of coping or stress. Extraversion showed significant
positive associations with positive reinterpretation
and instrumental social support, whereas openness
had significant positive relationships with planning
and positive reinterpretation and a negative association with suppression of competing activities.

Prior Trauma Experience and Outcome

The percentages of officers reporting involvement in
each of the events measured by the TSS are shown
in Table 4. These data indicate that almost half the
officers surveyed reported being involved in an incident in which they were assaulted, injured, or had
their life threatened by another person, and approximately one third of the officers reported that a
family member or close friend had died from an
accident, homicide, or suicide. Just more than one
fifth of the officers reported involvement in military
or peacekeeping duties prior to academy training. A
similar proportion reported they had experienced
some other form of shocking, distressing, or disturbing
event. Thirty-eight percent of officers reported having

Table 4. Proportions of Officers Reporting

Involvement in Traumatic Events Prior to Police
Academy Training (N = 94)
Event
Military/peacekeeping
Force or threat of force
Assault, injury, or life
threatened
Forced sexual encounter
Injury/property damage, fire
Injury/evacuate/property
damage, weather/disaster
Family/friend, death
accident/homicide/suicide
Moving vehicle accident, injury
to passenger
Other experience

Officers Involved (%)

20
11
46

19
10
43

7
2
7

7
2
7

35

33

21

20

25

23

experienced at least one event, 23% had experienced

two of the events listed, 17% had experienced three,
6% reported involvement in four, and 2% involvement in six of the listed events. Only 13% (n = 12)
of recruits reported having no prior experience of
any adverse event.
On examination of the IES-R scores, it was
found that, overall, intrusion scored highest, followed by avoidance and then hyperarousal (Table 5).
The overall mean score indicated low to moderate

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Characterizing the Resilient Officer / Burke et al.

Table 5.

185

Comparison of Mean Scores on IES and PTGI Subscales for Trauma and
No-Trauma Groups of Police Recruits (N = 94)
Trauma (n = 51)

Scale
Impact of Events Scale
Intrusion
Avoidance
Hyperarousal
Total score
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory
Relating to others
New possibilities
Personal strength
Spiritual change
Appreciation of life
Total growth score

No Trauma (n = 43)

Combined

SD

SD

SD

6.90
7.35
3.18
17.43

6.96
6.11
4.30
15.52

4.42
3.49
1.93
9.83

5.36
4.61
2.71
11.53

5.76
5.59
2.61
13.95

6.40
5.78
3.69
14.28

17.78
13.43
13.65
2.47
9.69
57.02

7.95
6.60
4.07
3.19
3.75
19.33

7.21
3.88
4.67
0.70
4.30
20.77

7.92
5.17
4.96
1.73
4.00
20.27

12.95
9.06
9.54
1.66
7.22
40.44

9.51
7.64
6.34
2.76
4.50
26.76

levels of distress among the recruits. When the subscale means for each of the trauma groups were
compared (i.e., trauma vs. no trauma), it was noted
that although the same pattern was maintained for
the no-trauma group, in the trauma group, avoidance, as opposed to intrusion, had the highest mean.
There was also a notable difference in the overall
means of each group, with the no-trauma group
showing relatively low levels of distress whereas the
trauma group exhibited moderate levels of distress.
Further examination of the data indicated that 27%
(n = 26) of the participants had total IES scores >20
(total scores ranged from 0 to 66), indicating heightened levels of posttraumatic distress.
A similar pattern of differences to those of the
IES-R was found when examining PTGI scores.
Overall, the subscale of the PTGI with the highest
mean change/growth score was relating to others.
This was followed by changes in personal strength,
new possibilities, and appreciation of life, respectively, with the smallest reported change occurring
in the subscale of spiritual change. This pattern was
maintained for the trauma group. For the group
whose stressful experience did not meet the DSM-IV
criteria (i.e., the no-trauma group), appreciation of
life had a higher mean score than new possibilities.
With this exception, the same pattern of results was
maintained with respect to the other subscale scores.
A one-way ANOVA was conducted to examine
the apparent differences between the two trauma
groups on reported levels of posttrauma distress and
growth (Table 6). This analysis indicated significantly higher levels of overall distress for the trauma
group compared to the no-trauma group. However,

Table 6. ANOVA Comparisons of Trauma

and No Trauma Exposure (Prior to Entry)
Groups of Police Recruits on IES-R and PTGI
Scores (df = 1, 92; N = 94)
Scale
Impact of Events Scale
Intrusion
Avoidance
Hyperarousal
Total
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory
Relating to others
New possibilities
Personal strength
Spiritual change
Appreciation of life
Total

3.65
11.62**
2.71
7.02**

.06
.001
.10
.009

41.41**
59.27**
92.95**
10.65**
45.28
78.48

<.001
<.001
<.001
.002
<.001
<.001

**p < .01.

although the data showed that the trauma group

exhibited significantly higher levels of avoidance
than the no-trauma group did, there were no significant differences between the scores of the groups
on intrusion or hyperarousal. The effect found for
distress was accompanied by significant differences
in all domains of the PTGI and on overall posttrauma growth, with the trauma group showing consistently higher levels of positive posttrauma change
than the no-trauma group.

Discussion
As predicted, the results indicate that the police recruits
showed a similar personality profile to normative

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Traumatology / Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2006

data, and no differences were apparent on neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, or agreeableness. However, the data also indicated significantly
heightened levels of extraversion among the recruits;
thus, only partial support was obtained for Hypothesis 1. The results supported Hypothesis 2, as stress
had a significant positive association with maladaptive coping strategies while having significant negative associations with a number of more adaptive
strategies.
Neuroticism exhibited the expected relationships
with both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies
and also with perceptions of stress. However, extraversion, although showing a significant positive correlation with seeking social support for instrumental
reasons, failed to show a significant relationship
with seeking social support for emotional reasons.
Thus, although neuroticism acted as predicted, supporting Hypothesis 3, extraversion did not, and only
partial support was obtained for Hypothesis 4.
With respect to scores on the PTGI and IES-R,
the trauma group showed significantly higher levels
of PTG and symptomatic distress than the notrauma group did. However, although the trauma
group had significantly higher scores on all facets of
the PTGI, on the IES-R, the only subscale in which
the trauma group exhibited significantly higher levels
of distress than the no-trauma group was avoidance
and, therefore, only partial support was obtained for
Hypothesis 4.

Stress, Coping, and Personality

Thompson and Solomon (1991) observed a trend
toward heightened extraversion in police officers and
suggested that these elevated levels had the potential
to mitigate harm from the stress and trauma exposure
characteristic of the occupation. Thompson and
Solomon also found significantly lower levels of neuroticism in their officers and concluded this to be
indicative of greater emotional stability than the general population. However, this result was not replicated in the current study, with data here suggesting
that police recruits and the general population have
comparable levels of emotional stability and that all
facets of personality except extraversion are similar
between the two groups. Nonetheless, it is possible
that this is a cultural artifact, as there is no normative
data for Australians on the NEO-FFI, and it may simply be that Australians generally are more extraverted
than Americans. Data from a large recent study of

personality across cultures suggest that this is indeed

the case (McCrae & Terracciano, 2005). However,
the cross-cultural study used the NEO Personality
InventoryRevised rather than the NEO-FFI, so we
can still draw only tentative conclusions in this
regard.
The greater use of adaptive coping strategies
such as positive reinterpretation and acceptance
indicates that the recruits, at this stage of their
career, are likely to try to reframe negative, stressful
events in a more positive light. This may be reflective of self-selection or the academy training
processes that emphasize the use of many different
types of adaptive coping, or it may be due to the
selection process for these officers, which places
emphasis on the individuals locus of control. For
example, the high reported use of active coping and
planning indicates that the recruits are likely to
think about how they will react in a given situation
and put into place a plan of action prior to encountering a negative situation, and it is consistent with
the idea of personal control.

Prior Trauma Response

and Outcomes
Stephens, Long, and Flett (1999) suggested that
although policing appears to attract quite a number
of individuals who have prior trauma experiences,
this prior exposure increases the officers risk of
developing stress-related pathologies. Conversely,
recruits may already be highly resilient to stressful
and traumatic situations as a result of this prior
exposure, and it is for this reason they can generally
cope with the demands of the job. It may even be
that recruit training actually helps officers to effectively resolve the residual effects of these previous
experiences. Although no conclusion about the
value of training can be made at this stage, it would
seem that although those recruits who have experienced trauma prior to entry have higher levels of distress at baseline, they also show higher levels of
PTG than the group who has not experienced a
trauma. This suggests that although prior traumatic
exposure may present a risk for later development of
PTSD as a result of operational exposure, it also
presents the possibility that these officers are more
resilient to future trauma and may be able to resolve
these experiences in a positive way. Further longitudinal evaluation is required to conclusively assess
these outcomes.

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Characterizing the Resilient Officer / Burke et al.

The lack of a social desirability measure could

be perceived as a limitation of the current study.
However, one reassuring factor in the validity of the
results may be implied with the preliminary findings
reported here being generally consistent with previous
studies involving the police profession. In particular,
the higher reported use of specific, adaptive coping
strategies fits conceptually with the nature of the
police role and may be due to the selection procedures
of this particular police force. However, the crosssectional nature of this study precludes any assertion
of predictive or causal relationships between the characteristics examined and long-term officer well-being.
The data provide a strong empirical base to document
and examine the changes in these constructs as the
recruits move from training to fully operational officers, a task currently being undertaken by the authors.
In summary, this article describes the individual
characteristics brought by recruits into their training
and, hence, their careers. The results show that at
this early stage of their policing careers, the majority
of the officers are well adjusted and already report
using a variety of coping strategies in response to
stressful situations. Although there were some officers who showed heightened levels of distress in
response to prior experiences, those same officers
also showed heightened levels of PTG. Although no
conclusion can be made at this stage as to how these
variables influence officer stress and well-being in
the long term, the results do suggest that these
recruits are entering the profession largely through
self-selection, equipped with the individual skills
necessary to effectively cope with the job. Any
apparent changes in these constructs as officers
progress through their policing careers is the subject
of ongoing investigation.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support provided by the Tasmania Police in allowing the project
to be undertaken. Also, the greatest appreciation is
extended to all the police personnel who participated.

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