Predictive value of psychological resilience for mental health disturbances: A three-wave prospective study among police officers

Psychological resilience is considered an important predictor for mental health disturbances among rescue workers. To what extent resilience predicts mental health disturbances among police officers at different stages while adjusting for existing (mental) health disturbances is unclear. Among 566 police officers resilience was operationalized by the Resilience Scale-nl and the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 questionnaires (8 scales in total). Mental health disturbances (such as depression symptoms and PTSD) and other health-related variables were assessed at baseline and follow-ups at three and nine months. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses assessed the predictive values of the 8 resilience scales for mental health disturbances at baseline (n = 566), three months (n = 566) and nine months (n = 364), adjusted for demographics, work circumstances, and health-related factors at baseline. Seven of the eight resilience scales at baseline were cross sectional associated with mental health disturbances at baseline. Only four scales were independent predictors for mental health disturbances at three months. When examining mental health disturbances at nine months, only one resilience scale remained a significant predictor. In sum, psychological resilience has a declining protective capacity for mental health disturbances over a medium time-span, specifically when corrected for baseline mental health disturbances.