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Posttraumatic Stress and Social Support in Police Cadets

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2020, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Counselor Education and Supervision.
Police work is a dangerous and stressful occupation that presents several unique stressors to police officers including the repeated exposure to trauma, violence, death, human suffering, and the perceived lack of organizational and social support. The effects of police work-related traumatic stress are widely believed to manifest as psychological health problems, physical health problems, and relational problems for police officers. Literature suggests the perception of social support serves as an important protective factor in the development of PTSD in various populations, including the police. It is not fully understood, however, how the perception of social support impacts the development of traumatic stress symptoms in police officers, or how these factors may change throughout the course of a police career. To address this gap, the present study examined police cadets’ number of potentially stressful events as measured by the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5, Gray et al., 2004), PTSD symptoms as measured by the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5, Weathers et al., 2013), and the perception of social support from family, friends, and significant other as measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS, Zimet et al., 1988). A secondary data analysis of 297 pre-service police cadets was conducted using a hierarchical regression to first investigate if LEC-5 score predicted MSPSS sub-scale scores by gender, and second, if MSPSS subscale scores predicted PCL-5 scores by gender. Results did not reveal statistical significance in the analyses of the research questions, nor did they reveal statistically significant differences between genders. A review of the literature is presented along with the study’s limitations, and discussion of the implications to theory and clinical practice, research, policy, and police training.
Rikki Patton, PhD (Committee Chair)
Heather Katafiasz, PhD (Committee Member)
David Tefteller, PhD (Committee Member)
Ingrid Weigold, PhD (Committee Member)
Peter Naegele, PhD (Committee Member)
187 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dawson, R. (2020). Posttraumatic Stress and Social Support in Police Cadets [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1595695106237268

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dawson, Richard. Posttraumatic Stress and Social Support in Police Cadets. 2020. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1595695106237268.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dawson, Richard. "Posttraumatic Stress and Social Support in Police Cadets." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1595695106237268

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)