The Personality Characteristics and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the Staff of Fire Departments and Police Officers of Kermanshah

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1622034/v1

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The Personality Characteristics and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the Staff of Fire Departments and Police Officers of Kermanshah

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1622034/v1

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Background

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) results in increased stress and anxiety following exposure to stressful or traumatic event. This disorder takes a long time to treat and it usually involves several traumas. This disorder causes many problems in the personal, social and family areas, employment, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and CVD death, all of which indicate the importance of this issue

Objectives

the present study was done to assess personality characteristics and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the staff of fire departments and police officers of Kermanshah.

Methods

This is a descriptive, analytic cross-sectional study and it was carried out on the 194 members of the police and the staff of fire departments and employees of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences using available sampling method.

Results

There is a significant difference between the group of police officers and control group in terms of post-traumatic stress variable (P = 0.03). Post-traumatic stress disorder had a positive relationship with neuroticism and a significant negative relationship with conscientiousness and agreeableness.

Conclusions

Due to high rates of symptoms of PTSD in police officers as well as the relationship between traumatic stress and personality traits, studies for screening and identifying people at risk and interventions to reduce these symptoms seem to be necessary.

Psychology

post-traumatic stress

the characteristics of personality

fire fighter

police officers

anxiety disorders

psychological distress

Bad and unfortunate events are part of the lives of all human beings. Such events happen in the lives of human beings over and over again but sometimes the consequences are so severe and shocking that a particular diagnostic category called post-traumatic stress disorder was allocated to it. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) results in increased stress and anxiety following exposure to stressful or traumatic event (1). This disorder takes a long time to treat and it usually involves several traumas (2, 3, 4). This disorder causes many problems in the personal, social and family areas, employment, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and CVD death ,all of which indicate the importance of this issue (5). The prevalence of lifetime PTSD is about eight percent of the general population and its incidence in the lifetime is 9 to 15 percent, and in addition, 5 to 15 percent of people may experience forms of subclinical PTSD. Although 50 to 90 percent of people experience trauma in their lives, only 8% of them show full PTSD symptoms. The life-time prevalence is 10%in women and 4% in men (1). Age, gender and marital status are among demographic factors that can contribute to post-traumatic stress disorder. Rosen (2004) quotes Taposa that female gender and low age are among the risk factors for this disorder (6, 7). It seems that the outbreak of a full-blown PTSD in older individuals is less compared to the general population (8 ). In addition to the relatively high prevalence of this disorder, other disorders and complications associated with PTSD require more attention(9). Sometimes people do jobs in which they are likely to experience signs and symptoms of PTSD (10). Police officers and fire department staff are people who experience the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder most because they deal with main sources of psychological pressure including facing risky and painful events or patients’ death or their struggle with death (11, 12). In Maya et al (2007), to determine the current prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Brazilian police officers, it is shown that the prevalence of complete PTSD and relative PTSD were 8.9% and 16%, respectively (13). The PTSD is influential on psychopathology, use of health care and the psychological hardiness in police officers(13). On the other hand, fire department staff is also exposed to post-traumatic stress disorder. In his study, Narimani reported the prevalence of post-traumatic stress in fire department staff as 8% (12). There are a number of reasons for traumatic events including genetic factors, previous experience and psychological problems, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, pressing jobs and so on (14). In addition, studies have shown that one of the factors that contribute to the vulnerability of people to PTSD is personality traits (12). Personality traits play an important role in the development, outcome and formation of specific symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (15, 16, 17, 18, and 19). Advances in the field of personality emphasize the relationship between personality and psychopathology, including the post-traumatic stress disorder. This dimensional model assumes that there are individual differences in personality structure due to their vulnerability or resilience to psychological distress and in this case, post-traumatic stress (20).

Regarding the fact that previous studies paid attention to the importance of the relationship between personality traits and post-traumatic stress disorder, there were no studies in the city of Kermanshah about examining the relationship between personality traits and post-traumatic stress disorder in two groups of police officers and fire departments staff and studying the two groups in terms of their personality traits and their relationship to PTSD and deciding which of the two groups is more susceptible to PTSD, this study was carried out between fall and winter 2020 and spring 2021 to determine the possible relationship between personality traits and PTSD and it is studied that which of the two groups, fire departments staff or police officers, are more involved in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Tools

NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI): NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) contains 60 questions from R - NEO-PI and measures five dimensions of personality which include: Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. The results of several studies suggest that the scales of the NEO-FFI have a good internal consistency. For example, Costa and McCrae's have reported alpha coefficient between 68% (for Agreeableness) to 86% (for Neuroticism). McCrae and Costa said that neo NEO-FFI shortened tool exactly matches with its complete NEO-PI form in a way that the scales of the short form have a high correlation of 68% with a full version of NEO-FFI. In an another study, they reported that credibility of five factors of NEO-FFI on the basis of solidarity with wife and peer evaluations are respectively in the range of 44% and 36% (for responsibility) to 65% and 48% (for openness)(21).

Mississippi Scale for PTSD: This test is a self-report scale that was developed in 1988 by Keane et al. This scale has 35 questions. Scores range from 35 to 175 and scores of 107 and above are indicative of post-traumatic stress disorder in the individual. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the test is reported in the range of 0.86 to 0.94. This test is highly reliable and correlated very well with other measures of post-traumatic stress disorder(22). This scale was validated in Iran by Goudarzi (2002) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was reported 0.92. To determine the concurrent validity of the scale, list of life events, list of PTSD and Padua inventory were used and correlation coefficient of the Mississippi scale for each has been reported 0.23, 0.82, and 0.75 respectively (23).

To conduct research, first with the coordination and approval of the Medical University, the license to enter to the related centers was obtained. The researcher referred to the determined centers by necessary coordination with officials and started to collect data. Before collecting data, researchers did a non-structured interview with the staff and explained everything which helped the understanding of the test such as the purpose of research, how to respond to questions in the questionnaires, data confidentiality and so on. If they agreed to participate in the study, questionnaires were presented to them. The participants responded to the questionnaire individually and the average response time was 45 minutes.

Sample Preparation and Examinations

This study is a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study. Population consisted of police officers (criminal police, anti-narcotics police and traffic police) and fire departments staff and staff of the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences as the control group, a total of 194 people. The samples in this study are available.

Statistical Analysis

Demographic and Clinical Data

Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the sample group. As the results show in terms of marital status, in all three groups, most people were married, in terms of education in fire department staff, most individuals did not have high school diploma, and in the group of police officers and control group, most people had higher education. The average age of firefighters was 48.49 percent with a standard deviation of 6.44% and their average job experience was 22.61% with a standard deviation of the 5.64 percent. The average age in the group of police officers was 36.84% with a standard deviation of 6.72 percent and their average job experience was 16.80% with a standard deviation of 5.86 percent. The average age of the control group was 37.60% with a standard deviation of 9.70 percent and their average job experience was 13% with a standard deviation of 7.54%.

Table 1

The demographic characteristics of the studied groups
Variable		G1	G2	G3
Marital status	Single	1(1.3%)	6 (7.9%)	9 (22.0%)
	Marriage	76 (98.7%)	70 (92.1%)	32(78.0%)
Education	Under Diploma Diploma Upper diploma	51(66.2%) 17 (22.1%) 9 (9.2%)	1 (1.3%) 22 (28.9%) 53 (69.7%)	0 (0.0%) 5 (12.2%) 36 (87.8%)
		M ± SD	M ± SD	M ± SD
History		22.61 ± 5.64	16.80 ± 5.86	13.00 ± 7.54
Age		48.49 ± 6.4	36.84 ± 6.72	37.60 ± 9.70
N		20.71 ± 6.13	21.63 ± 5.82%	20.21 ± 5.76
E		28.67 ± 5.06	26.82 ± 5.58	28.21 ± 6.27
O		21.05 ± 3.39	22.35 ± 4.49	24.53 ± 3.86
A		28.97 ± 5.3	28.15 ± 4.90	29.21 ± 7.12
C		35.58 ± 7.47	33.53 ± 6.16	35.80 ± 5.48
PTSD		76.53 ± 14.53	82.11 ± 18.18	73.65 ± 17

Table 2

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) difference between three groups of police officers, fire department staff and the control group
\({\text{N}}^{2}\)	SIG	EDF	DF	F	q	Name of the Test
0.087	0.001	0.372	12	2.945^b	0.834	Lambda Wilks

Results of Table 2 show that significance levels of Lambda Wilks test permit the usability of multivariate analysis of variance. These results show that there is a significant difference between the three groups (0.08 = ETA, P = 0.001). Squared Eta shows an overall significant difference between the three groups according to the dependent variables and the amount of these differences on the basis of Lambda Wilks test is 0.08 percent, that is about 0.08 percent of the variance depends on the difference between the three groups resulting from interacting variables. The results of multivariate analysis of variance in the groups showed that there is a significant difference between the three groups in the agreement (a) conscientiousness (c) and the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (Table 3). Sheffe's post hoc test was used to determine which differences were observed between the groups. The results are shown in Table 4.

Table 3

Results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) the difference between the three groups of firefighters, police officers and the control group
dependent variable	Fire department staff	Police Officers	control group	SS	MS	F	Sig
N	20.71 ± 6.13	21.63 ± 5.82%	20.±5.76	61.39	30.69	0.870	0.42
E	28.67 ± 5.06	26.82 ± 5.58	28.26.27	13.275	68.63	2.235	0.11
O	21.05 ± 3.39	22.35 ± 4.49	24.53 ± 3.86	39.17	19.58	0.622	0.53
A	28.97 ± 5.35	28.15 ± 4.90	29.21 ± 7.12	32.26	16.63	10.39	0.001
C	35.58 ± 7.47	33.53 ± 6.16	35.80 ± 5.48	20.36	10.68	2.40	0.09
PTSD	76.53 ± 14.53	82.11 ± 18.18	73.65 ± 17	22.18	11.59	4.05	0.01

Table 4

Scheffe's test results to compare variables between the studied groups
VARIABLE			DIFFERENT	SIG
N	Fire department staff	Police Officers	-0.91	0.63
	Fire department staff	employees of university	0.49	0.91
	Police Officers	employees of university	1.41	0.47
E	Fire department staff	Police Officers	1.84	0.12
	Fire department staff	employees of university	0.45	0.91
	Police Officers	employees of university	-1.39	0.43
O	Fire department staff	Police Officers	-1.30	0.12
	Fire department staff	employees of university	-3.48^*	0.000
	Police Officers	employees of university	-2.18^*	0.01
A	Fire department staff	Police Officers	0.81	0.66
	Fire department staff	employees of university	0-.24	0.97
	Police Officers	employees of university	-1.06	0.62
C	Fire department staff	Police Officers	2.04	0.16
	Fire department staff	employees of university	-0.22	0.98
	Police Officers	employees of university	-2.26	0.21
PTSD	Fire department staff	Police Officers	-5.58	0.11

The results of the multivariate analysis of variance in Table 5 showed, there is a significant difference between the group of police officers and control group in terms of post-traumatic stress variable (p = 0.03). The amount of post-traumatic stress in police officers was 8.4 score greater than university staff (control group). The score of fire department staff was 2.8 score greater than university staff, but this difference was not statistically significant. The amount of post-traumatic stress in police officers was 8.58 score greater than firefighters. Regarding personality traits there was no significant difference between three groups in terms of the variables of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. There was a significant difference between the three groups in terms of openness to experience (P < 0.05) in a way that firefighters and police officers, respectively, had 3.48 and 2.18 scores lower than the control group, that is university staff (Table 4).

Table 5

The correlation between the agents of NEO questionnaire and PTSD in the total population
variable	N	E	O	A	C
PTSD	0.337^**	-0.193^**	0.138	-0.209^**	-0.206^**
Sig	0.00	0.007	0.055	0.003	0.004

As it is shown in Table 5, PTSD has a positive relationship with Neuroticism and a significant negative relationship with conscientiousness and agreeableness

As the results show in this study, PTSD has a positive relationship with neuroticism and a significant negative relationship with extroversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Neuroticism, defined as the experience of negative emotions and psychological distress, includes feelings such as anxiety, aggression, depression and impulsive behavior ( 24). Neurotic people have symptoms such as fear, sadness, anger, guilt, and suffer from traits such as anxiety, excessive worry, pessimism and low self-esteem, etc.(25). In addition, at its core; neuroticism is the propensity to experience negative emotions (25). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is marked with increased stress and anxiety following exposure to stressful or traumatic event(1). It is completely clear that in post-traumatic stress disorder, after exposure to a traumatic event, having negative emotion, anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt in many cases, excessive worry and so on is felt and people experience a lot of negative emotions. As it is said in the definition of neurotic behavior and post-traumatic stress disorder, both mentioned factors have similar features such as having anxiety so naturally, it can be concluded that neuroticism is a good prediction tool for post-traumatic stress disorder; and the relationship between personality characteristics and post-traumatic stress disorder can be realized.

These findings are consistent with Sheikh Bardsiri and Priebe Studies(26, 27). In a study to investigate the relationship between personality traits with post-traumatic stress disorder in emergency personnel by Sheikh Bardsiri, the results showed that people with personality traits of neuroticism, openness to experience and conscientiousness are more susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder, respectively. The factors of neuroticism and openness to experience are consistent with our results(27).

In a study by Priebe et al., it is showed that PTSD is related with personality traits of neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness to experience that is somewhat consistent with our results(26). In a study by cox BJ, neuroticism has a significant correlation with PTSD in men and women, which is consistent with our findings(15). Korotkov (2008) and Cox et al (2004) argue that PTSD risk is higher among people who are less conscientious that is not consistent with our results (15).

In a study by Sajad Basharpoor et al., results showed that in people exposed to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and healthy trauma, there is a significant difference in personality traits of neuroticism, openness to experience and conscientiousness; however, the two groups are not significantly different in extroversion and agreeableness(12).

When people have jobs in which they are routinely faced with severe mental stress types, they are forcibly exposed to a variety of psychological problems caused by mental stress. There is no doubt that police officers and fire department staff, with regard to the nature of their jobs and the need for intervention in crisis situations, are more vulnerable than others. As shown in the results, post-traumatic stress disorder in the group of police officers is 5.58% higher than and firefighters, and although this difference is not statistically significant but it can be explained by noticing the facts that police officers’ job is in such a way that they face more complicated and unpredictable issues (such as dealing with different criminals in different areas) than firefighters whose duties are more specific and have clearer boundaries in their job compared to police officers. Regarding unpredictable nature of police officers’ job compared to firefighters, it can be concluded that police officers are more susceptible to anxiety and stress facing a stressful event and therefore they are more exposed to the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Funding

All sources of research funding have been accepted by the corresponding author.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of data and material

Information on where the data supporting the results reported in the article can be found applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent to publication

Not applicable

Appreciation

All participants of the research are sincerely appreciated.

Ethical Considerations

Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences has confirmed this research (Ethics Code: KUMS.REC.1395.470). All ethical principles were considered in this article. The participants were informed about the purpose of the research and its implementation stages; they were also assured about the confidentiality of their information; Moreover, they were allowed to leave the study whenever they wish, and if desired, the results of the research would be available to them.

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The Personality Characteristics and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the Staff of Fire Departments and Police Officers of Kermanshah

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Abstract

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Background

Methods

Results

Demographic and Clinical Data

Discussion

Conclusion

Declarations

References

Status:

Version 1