Differences in Putative Risk and Resilience Profiles After Revisions to RCMP Admissions Requirements

Why was the study done?

Putative risk and resilience variables refer to modifiable individual difference variables associated with differences in risk profiles for developing or maintaining various mental health disorders. Putative risk factors include state anger, illness and injury sensitivity, pain anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, anxiety sensitivity, and intolerance of uncertainty. In contrast, self-perceived resilience is broadly associated with a reduced risk of mental health challenges.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) changed the cadet admission requirements in February 2022. The current study was designed to assess whether changes to admissions requirements were associated with differences in putative risk and resilience factors among cadets.

What was done in the study?

RCMP cadets recruited before (n=772; 72.2% men) and after (n=1012; 78.6% men) the admissions policy change completed measures of self-perceived resilience, fear of negative evaluation, intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity, state anger, pain anxiety, illness and injury sensitivity, and sociodemographic characteristics. Differences among cadets recruited before and after the admissions policy change were assessed, as well as differences between cadets recruited after the admissions policy change and published young adult samples. 

What did we find out?

Cadets recruited after the admissions policy change evidenced statistically significantly lower total and subscale scores on intolerance of uncertainty and state anger, and statistically significantly higher scores on the escape/avoidance dimension of pain anxiety. All cadets had statistically significantly lower scores on all putative risk variables and statistically significantly higher self-perceived resilience than young adult general population samples.

Where do we go from here?

Overall, the current results suggest that the policy change may have been beneficial in reducing certain known mental health disorder risk factors in the population of cades, but longitudinal research is needed.