6533b85bfe1ef96bd12baa43

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Keep your eyes open: dispositional vigilance moderates the relationship between operational police stress and stress symptoms.

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ABSTRACTBackground: Vigilant coping is characterized by a deep processing of threat-related information. In many cases, vigilant coping increases stress symptoms, whereas avoidant coping decreases negative affect. However, vigilance may be beneficial when stress-eliciting situations involve a risk of injury or escalation as is usually the case in police operations. Design: We investigated the roles of vigilance and cognitive avoidance in police operations in a cross-sectional survey. Methods: The participants were 137 students (104 men, Mage = 28.54, SD = 8.04) from the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences; 76 of them were already police officers (work experience: M = 12.59 years), and 61 were police officer candidates who had completed a 3- to 6-month police internship. Participants completed a paper-and-pencil survey and reported their operational stress, dispositional vigilance and cognitive avoidance in police operations, and stress symptoms. Results: We found that vigilance was negat...