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Chronic Trauma Effects on Personality Traits in Police Officers
Author(s) -
Leigh Wills Jennifer,
Schuldberg David
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.22089
Subject(s) - big five personality traits , trait , occupational stress , psychology , personality , clinical psychology , empathy , psychiatry , social psychology , computer science , programming language
The impact of cumulative occupational exposure to traumatic events (TEs), posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and work environment stress on personality traits over time was examined in 38 police officers from an urban agency. California Psychological Inventory (CPI) personality trait scores from prehire evaluations were compared with follow‐up CPI scores to test whether exposure to traumatic events was correlated with changes in traits from baseline to 5–10 years later. Measures of occupational TEs, PTS symptoms, and police work environment stress were administered. Mean trait scores declined on all CPI traits analyzed in the study. Trait change was evaluated using the Reliable Change Index; change in participants’ scores unlikely to occur by chance ranged from 11% to 63% in the traits examined. All participants reported substantial TE exposure. PTS symptoms were correlated with steeper decline in 4 of 5 traits, with effect sizes ranging from r = −.47 to r = −.67. Scores on measures of job‐related TEs were negatively correlated with only one CPI trait (empathy) at T2 ( r = −.31), and were unrelated to slope of trait change. Work environment stress was significantly related to gender, with female officers reporting higher levels of operational ( r = .45) and organizational ( r = .54) stress.