Stability of psychological resilience of police officers: A three-wave latent class analysis

Psychological resilience is considered a capacity to handle severe stressors. However, little is known about the stability of psychological resilience and to what extent changes in resilience are associated with confrontations potentially traumatic events among police officers. To determine classes of psychological resilience trajectories over a 9-month period among officers (n = 305; mage = 51.0; 72.8% male) and investigate associations with potentially traumatic events (PTE's). Two psychological resilience scales (Resilience Scale-nl and Mental Toughness Questionairre-48; RS-nl and MTQ-48) were administered at baseline (T1), at 3-months (T2) and 9-month (T3) follow-up. Latent-class growth analysis determined classes of psychological resilience trajectories. Mixed-effects modelling with a time*class interaction examined stability. Chi2 between class-membership and PTE experience were assessed. For both scales a five-class solution yielded the best fit. These trajectories mainly differed on levels of psychological resilience. In the RS-nl one class (n = 11; 4%) was identified that slightly declined, then increased. Other classes did not change over time. Class membership was not associated with PTE experience prior to T1 and PTE experience between T1 and T3. Psychological resilience is a stable capacity of police officers across a 9-month period. PTE experience is not associated with changes in psychological resilience.