ASSESSING DEPLOYMENT RISK AND RESILIENCY FACTORS AND THE ADJUSTMENT OUTCOMES OF POLICE OFFICERS SERVING IN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM AND OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM By Paula Barrows Davenport, MS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012 Director: Dr. Janet R. Hutchinson Professor and Chair of the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies The goal of this exploratory study was to evaluate risk and resiliency factors from the Deployment Risk and Resiliency Inventory (DRRI) in predicting post-deployment adjustment outcomes among police officers who served in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) as part of the National Guard/Reserve (NGR). A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 44 police officers who were OEF/OIF veterans assessing risk and resiliency factors as well as current levels of anxiety, aggression, alcohol use, and PTSD symptoms. Regression analyses revealed concerns over family personal relationships and career matters during deployment along with more exposure to critical incidents involving family members predicted higher levels of alcohol use. Conversely, exposure to critical incidents involving personal safety predicted lower levels of alcohol use while exposure to hostile combat missions predicted lower levels of aggression. Post-deployment social support and military support during deployment predicted lower levels of alcohol usage, anxiety and PTSD/depression while unit peer social support predicted higher levels of alcohol usage. This study highlighted the mistrust among police veteran police officers of mental health professionals. Mistrust of mental health personnel predicted a higher level of aggression and the fear of stigma for receiving mental health assistance predicted higher alcohol usage. This document was created in Microsoft Word 2003.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-3670 |
| Date | 28 March 2012 |
| Creators | Barrows, Paula |
| Publisher | VCU Scholars Compass |
| Source Sets | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | © The Author |
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