Premium
Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress in Police and Other First Responders
Author(s) -
MARMAR CHARLES R.,
McCASLIN SHAN E.,
METZLER THOMAS J.,
BEST SUZANNE,
WEISS DANIEL S.,
FAGAN JEFFERY,
LIBERMAN AKIVA,
POLE NNAMDI,
OTTE CHRISTIAN,
YEHUDA RACHEL,
MOHR DAVID,
NEYLAN THOMAS
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1364.001
Subject(s) - psychology , clinical psychology , multilevel model , coping (psychology) , psychological resilience , social support , distress , panic , psychiatry , anxiety , medicine , social psychology , machine learning , computer science
We provide an overview of previous research conducted by our group on risk and resilience factors for PTSD symptoms in police and other first responders. Based on our work, the findings of other investigators on individual differences in risk for PTSD, and drawing on preclinical studies fear conditioning and extinction, we propose a conceptual model for the development of PTSD symptoms emphasizing the role of vulnerability and resilience to peritraumatic panic reactions. We tested this conceptual model in a cross‐sectional sample of police officers ( n = 715). Utilizing an hierarchical linear regression model we were able to explain 39.7% of the variance in PTSD symptoms. Five variables remained significant in the final model; greater peritraumatic distress (β= 0.240, P < .001), greater peritraumatic dissociation (β= 0.174, P < .001), greater problem‐solving coping (β= 0.103, P < .01), greater routine work environment stress (β= 0.182, P < .001), and lower levels of social support (β=−0.246, P < .001). These results were largely consistent with the proposed conceptual model. Next steps in this line of research will be to test this model prospectively in a sample of 400 police academy recruits assessed during training and currently being followed for the first 2 years of police service.