Hardy personality assessment: Validating the Occupational Hardiness Questionnaire in police officers.

Abstract

The hardy personality or hardiness concept is defined in scientific papers as a personal resource to lessen the negative effects of stressful events on health and to protect it from job strain. Although it is commonto find studies on the assessment of this concept in different occupational samples, research in police officers is scarce (even though officers are exposed to stressful events on a daily basis). Moreover, the lack of methodological rigor in the assessment of hardiness promotes the accomplishment of studies that establish the proper use of assessment instruments. The objective of this article is to determine the psychometric characteristics of the Occupational Hardiness Questionnaire (OHQ) n a sample of Spanish police officers. This is a cross-sectional study with 212 officers from Madrid, Spain. Descriptive analysis, correlations, confirmatory factor analysis, and regression analysis were performed. The results showed appropriate validity and reliability, with values for Cronbach’s alpha ranging between .81 and .87. As a main conclusion, it can be said that the instrument can be recommended for the assessment of personality hardiness; in addition, its proper application in police officers is confirmed.