Psychological resilience of police officers in Hong Kong : a study on the roles of cognitive behavioural coping and psychological flexibility

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the extensive studies on police officers’ psychological resilience and adjustment to stress in different parts of the world, there remains a paucity of literature pertaining to the Hong Kong Police Force. The present paper extended the literature by studying the individual differences in psychological adjustment of Hong Kong police officers. Using a psychometric approach, the different types and levels of operational stress, organizational stress, and psychological adjustment outcomes were studied. Differences across genders, ages, and ranks were investigated. The interrelationships among police stress, psychological adjustment outcomes, and traditional cognitive-behavioural and third-wave factors including behavioural coping (problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies), cognitive coping (“adaptive” and “less adaptive” strategies), and psychological flexibility were examined. The specific roles of coping and psychological flexibility in influencing psychological adjustment outcomes were studied. Combined analyses involving both coping and psychological flexibility were also proposed to provide a more holistic understanding on individual differences in psychological adjustment. Based on previous literature, it was hypothesized that police stress, coping, and psychological flexibility would be significantly associated with psychological outcomes. Regarding the roles of the cognitive-behavioural and third-wave factors, coping strategies were hypothesized to act as mediators between police stress and psychological outcomes, while psychological flexibility was expected to be a moderator in this relationship. Methodology: A total of 1287 Hong Kong police officers from different regions, districts and units completed a set of questionnaires measuring operational and organizational police stress, behavioural and cognitive coping styles, psychological flexibility, as well as depression, anxiety and stress symptoms. Statistical procedures involving independent t-tests, bivariate associations, and independent as well as combined mediation and moderation analyses were performed. Results: Consistent with the study’s hypotheses, emotion-focused coping was a significant mediator between police stress and psychological outcomes. Psychological flexibility played a significant moderating role between police stress and psychological outcomes. When considered together, both factors continued to play significant and concurrent roles in influencing psychological adjustment outcomes. Conclusion: The combined mediation and moderation analyses of coping and psychological flexibility suggested that while the factors involved in influencing psychological adjustment outcomes may be based on different theoretical frameworks, they seem to work concurrently with each other rather than be mutually exclusive. Together, the study findings suggest that it is important to consider the roles of different theoretically-based factors of psychological adjustment and frameworks when developing interventions and programs for protecting against police stress and promoting psychological adjustment outcomes. Recommendations to encourage the use of more effective coping strategies and enhance psychological flexibility to promote psychological adjustment in the Police Force were finally discussed.