Supporting resilience: investigating social support as a mediator of resilience in RCMP members

Abstract

Background: In a Canada-wide survey of public safety personnel, Royal Canadian Mounted Police members (RCMP) scored especially high on screening measures of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder (PD), and major depressive disorder (MDD) (Carleton et al, 2018; Di Nota et al; 2020). Social support and resilience have been linked across multiple studies to symptom reduction in the aforementioned disorders (Batinić et al, 2009; Beadel et al, 2016; Bitsika et al, 2010; Lee et al, 2014; McCanlies et al, 2018; Pietrzak et al, 2010; Sangalang & Gee, 2012). Researchers suggest that resilience is a trait factor, whereas social support can vary across the lifespan; therefore, the current study was designed to identify a hypothesised mediation effect of social support in the relationship between resilience and symptom measures. Method: There were 1207 RCMP members who completed the web-based Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) prevalence survey. Self-report measures of GAD, PTSD, PD, MDD, resilience (BRS), and social support (SPS) were used as independent variables in regression analyses assessing mediation effects of social support in the relationship between resilience and symptom measures. All analyses were bootstrapped with 5,000 samples to provide robust probability estimates and confidence intervals. Results: For the GAD model, GAD symptoms were significantly associated with SPS (b = -.11, all ps < .001) and BRS scores (b = .34) and there were significant total (β = -.60) and indirect effects of the model (b = -.03; 95% CI [-.05, -.02]). For the PTSD model, PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with SPS (b = -.60, all ps < .001) and BRS scores (b = .35) and there were significant total (β = -2.29) and indirect effects of the model (b = -.05; 95% CI [-.07, -.03]). For the PD model, PD symptoms were significantly associated with SPS (b = -.10, all ps < .001) and BRS scores (b = .36) and there were significant total (β = -.46) and indirect effects of the model (b = -.04; 95% CI [-.06, -.02]). For the MDD model, MDD symptoms were significantly associated with SPS (b = -.22, all ps < .001) and BRS scores (b = .34) and there were significant total (β = -.70) and indirect effects of the model (b = -.06; 95% CI [-.08, -.04]). Discussion: Social support significantly mediated the relationship between resilience and symptoms measured in each of the models; however, greater variance was explained by the relationship between resilience and each symptom measure. The current results suggest that resilience is a key correlate of symptom variation, and social support may be a critical facet of resilience; accordingly, resilience may be impacted by environmental factors.