Abstract:

The Metro Police Services has a reputation for being resilient despite the amount of trauma they are exposed to. Research has shown that this occupation is one of the most stressful around the world. However, research surrounding the Metro Police Services suggests that police work is one of society’s most stressful occupations. The way in which individuals respond to such traumatisation’s’ is dependent on numerous factors, two being personality and coping. In so far, this study investigated three main areas around metro police. In order to understand their responses to trauma: whether personality factors were related to post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) in the Metro Police population; whether coping moderated the relationship between personality factors and PTSS; whether a personality factor predict coping style.

A quantitative analysis was conducted among a sample of 36 officers in the Ekurhuleni area of South Africa. This study found that the relationship between Neuroticism and PTSS is mediated by coping, specifically Emotion-Focused and Dysfunctional Coping style. A relationship between Conscientiousness and PTSS showed to be prevalent, however, this is not due to the mediation effect of coping. Furthermore, Neuroticism and Extraversion showed to predict coping style. Specially, Neuroticism showed to affect EFC and DC and Extraversion showed to affect EFC. The descriptive statistics showed that this sample of Metro Police is suffering from PTSD. Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are explored.

Keywords: Personality, Coping, Trauma, Metro Police, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Risk factors.

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