Fitness for Duty Evaluations: An Analysis of Personality Traits of Law Enforcement Officers Referred due to Domestic Violence

• Main Author: Scharf, Jessica
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Clinical psychology; Criminology; Personality psychology; Social psychology
• ISBN: 1321320558; 9781321320558

The research on police psychology for pre-employment screening has advanced and developed in the field dramatically. However, the focus on post-employment assessment for fitness for duty is an area that has received more limited attention in research. Additionally, concerns within law enforcement regarding domestic violence (DV) is an area that has more recently gained publicity and is an important area to continue to study. The objective of the current study was to analyze personality information from the population of law enforcement officers. Specifically, data was collected from a population of law enforcement officers with histories of domestic violence referral such that they were referred for a fitness for duty evaluation (FFDE). Each of the data set contained California Personality Inventory (CPI) Self-Control scaled scores and Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Stress and Dominance scaled scores. The aforementioned scales were analyzed to compare any differences between officers found fit for duty and those that were found unfit for duty. Additionally, the scores were examined to see if differences existed between an initial assessment in which the officers were found unfit for duty, and subsequent FFDE assessments when they were found fit for duty. The data used in this dissertation was archival and accessed through a private company that conducts fitness for duty evaluations. CPI Self-control, PAI Stress and PAI Dominance data was culled from 85 law enforcement officers who had been referred to the agency for a FFDE. The data between groups of officers found fit for duty and those found unfit was analyzed with using an independent sample t-test to determine if significant differences between scores existed. Additionally, a paired samples t-test was used to determine if significant differences existed between the initial test scores of unfit sample group and subsequent scores with the same sample when later found fit. The results determined that there were no significant differences between the scores of officers found fit for duty and those found unfit for duty in regards to self-control, stress, or dominance. Additionally, no significant differences were found between initial and subsequent test scores of officers. Limited research is widely available to date related FFDE and domestic violence within law enforcement for those outside of the police psychology field. While differences were not found, the dissertation contributed to the limited studies available on this topic.