The role of Personality and Resilience on Stress Coping Strategies in the Irish Police Force
Authors
McKenna, Siobhan
Issue Date
2015
Degree
BA (Hons) in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Items in Esource are protected by copyright. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/copyright holder.
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the relationships among personality traits, resilience, perceived stress and stress coping strategies employed by the Irish police force. The Big Five Inventory (BFI) (John & Srivastava, 1999), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarack, & Mermelstein, 1983), the Brief COPE (John, Donahue & Kentle, 1991) and the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith, Dalen, Wiggins, Tooley, Christopher & Bernard, 2008) were used as measurement. Irish police officers (n=122) participated in the study. A cross-sectional between subjects quantitative design was used. Results revealed statistically significant correlations among personality, resilience, levels of perceived stress and stress coping strategies employed, with no statistically significant differences in stress coping strategies between male and female officers. The results indicate that personality traits, resilience, perceived stress and coping methods have significant independent and interactive roles in the potential development and curtailment of psychological stress in police persons. Author keywords: personality, resilience, stress, coping, Irish Police Force