The consequences of traumatic events on resilience among South Korean police officers

Abstract

Purpose Drawing on survey data from South Korean police officers, the purpose of this paper is to explore the mediation effects of coping self-efficacy and social support in the relationship between the impact of traumatic events and resilience. Additionally, the moderation effects were assessed to examine how this relationship varies by the state of police officers’ mental health. Design/methodology/approach Both multiple mediation and multiple group models within the structural equation modeling framework were adopted to assess the proposed mediating and moderating effects. Findings Traumatic events affect resilience not just directly but also indirectly through mediating factors such as coping self-efficacy and social support. These patterns are more pronounced in the high-risk mental health group than in the normal group. Practical implications If exposure to traumatic events were an unavoidable aspect of police work, helping officers build resilience as a general capacity to overcome stressful situations would be an effective strategy to prevent many negative consequences associated with the traumatic events. This study examined specific causal mechanisms linking the impact of traumatic events to resilience to better understand the process of developing resilience among police officers. Originality/value Instead of further examining the relationship between impact of traumatic events and other physical and mental outcomes, this study attempted to expand the current literature by identifying important mediating and moderating mechanisms that reduce the negative influences of traumatic events on resilience.

Factors Influencing Successful Coping among Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Personnel: Recruiting for Resilience – A Mixed Methods Study

“…Additionally, self-esteem has been shown to support resilience, coping and self-efficacy (Charney 2004;Mehta et al 2019;Prati and Pietrantoni 2010); and resilience has been shown to increase self-esteem (Mehta et al 2019). Together, these attributes may have acted as protective factors against the effects of trauma under the super-ordinate construct of resilience, minimising levels of depression, anxiety and stress, as has previously been reported (Park et al 2018;Prati and Pietrantoni 2010). This would suggest that these coping attributes may all be related aspects-as we found in our correlational analyses.…”

“…Further studies in resilience and coping research have been conducted to understand the consequences of traumatic events on resilience. For example, Park et al (2018) found a significant negative effect on resilience in relation to traumatic events and an indirect effect via social support and coping self-efficacy. The authors concluded that interventions to support coping self-efficacy that included social support are crucial to support resilience and future psychological well-being.…”

Factors and age-related drivers that influence self-rated bad health in police officers: A cross-sectional study

“…In relation to this, it was found that many people complained of helplessness and stress. Meanwhile, it was emphasized that if police officers cannot avoid work-related stress, strategies to help them build resilience are needed to alleviate it ( Park, Im, and Na, 2018 ).…”

Factors Influencing Successful Coping among Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Personnel: Recruiting for Resilience - A Mixed Methods Study

“…Further studies in resilience and coping research have been conducted to understand the consequences of traumatic events on resilience. For example, Park et al (2018) found a signi cant negative effect on resilience in relation to traumatic events and an indirect effect via social support and coping self-e cacy. The authors concluded that interventions to support coping self-e cacy that included social support are crucial to support resilience and future psychological wellbeing.…”