Personality and mental health : an investigation of South African police trainees

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Authors

Du Preez, E.D.
Cassimjee, Nafisa
Lauritz, L.E.
Ghazinour, M.
Richter, J.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Ammons Scientific

Abstract

The relationship between personality and mental health was investigated in one cohort of police trainees at a South African Police Academy (1145 police recruits; 648 men, 497 women). Male trainees reported less somatisation, depression, anxiety, and phobic anxiety symptoms and lower harm avoidance as well as higher persistence than female trainees. A cluster analysis based on the personality scores was used to identify three clusters with personality profiles characterized as Vulnerable, Healthy, and Intermediate profiles. Sociodemographic variables and temperament and character domain scores contributed separately and differentially to the explanation of variance in mental health symptom scores. Selection tools should be developed to identify Vulnerable individuals in terms of personality characteristics during selection and prior to training, to prevent later problems with stress reactions. Additional training modules focusing on coping skills could possibly reduce vulnerability to stress in some trainees.

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Keywords

Personality, Mental health, Police trainees, Depression, Intermediate profiles

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Citation

Du Preez, ED, Cassimjee, N, Lauritz, LE, Ghazinour, M & Richter, J 2011, 'Personality and mental health : an investigation of South African police trainees', Psychological Reports, vol. 108, no.1, pp. 301-316. [http://www.ammonsscientific.com/AmSci/ejournals.htm]