I believe I can handle it! Trauma coping self-efficacy and posttraumatic stress symptoms among police officers: A 1-year longitudinal study.

Abstract

Police officers are repeatedly exposed to critical incidents, making them vulnerable to posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during service and posttraumatic stress disorder. Trauma-related coping self-efficacy (CSE) has been identified as a protective factor in posttraumatic recovery, yet little is known about its role in high-risk occupations. This study integrates the CSE framework into the cumulative burden model and examines longitudinal associations of CSE and accumulated critical incident history (CIH) with PTSS 1 year later in 2,954 police officers, while adjusting for multiple individual and organizational risk factors. The study also examines whether CIH modifies the CSE-PTSS association. Results showed that CSE was inversely associated, and CIH positively associated, with later PTSS. A small yet significant CIH × CSE interaction was found and stratified analyses indicated stronger CSE-PTSS associations at higher levels of CIH. Notably, post hoc analyses also showed lower mean CSE among officers with the highest CIH, indicating a potentially concerning pattern between cumulative exposure and strained CSE beliefs. The study provides novel etiological insights into the interplay of CSE as a protective factor and CIH as an occupational risk, underscoring their value in organizational prevention. Given the modest effect size, the interaction warrants cautious interpretation, although main findings remained consistent across sensitivity analyses, including models accounting for exposure during the 1-year follow up. Future research is needed to clarify the mechanisms linking critical incident exposure, CSE, and PTSS, and to identify factors that strengthen CSE in policing and other high-risk occupations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).