Introduction

As a function of their occupation, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), like all public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., correctional employees, firefighters, paramedics, police, public safety communicators; Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment; CIPSRT 2021) are frequently exposed to a wide variety of workplace stressors including potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs; i.e., direct or indirect exposures to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence; CIPSRT 2021; American Psychiatric Association 2022) and organizational and operational stressors (Carleton et al. 2020). Due to the inherent stressors of the occupation, PSP undergo extensive recruitment selection processes (i.e., medical examinations, skills testing, security clearances, psychological evaluations, a polygraph test, and minimum physical standards) to ensure the best candidates are selected. The RCMP currently uses several recruitment strategies including administering the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2; Butcher 2011; Butcher et al. 2001) which is common practice among policing organizations (Weiss 2010). Despite the name, the MMPI is fundamentally an assessment of psychopathology and is considered a medical test (Weiss 2010). The MMPI provides profiles indicative of psychopathology (i.e., Lie, Infrequency, Correction, Hypochondriasis, Depression, Psychopathic Deviate, etc.; Detrick et al. 2001) instead of providing profiles of personality factors (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience). Personality factors are well established as predictive of job performance of PSP, including police (Detrick and Chibnall 2006; Salters-Pedneault et al. 2010; Varela et al. 2004; Wagner 2005). Research has also suggested that individuals who join PSP occupations, including policing professions, have a unique set of personality characteristics that allow them to manage the intense stressors inherent in their occupation (Mitchell and Bray 1990; Salters-Pedneault et al. 2010).

Choosing police officers who have personality factors that correlate with positive overall job performance and reduced risk of psychological harm from job related stressors is considered a necessary and crucial step for law enforcement agencies in personnel selection during recruitment and job assignment (Lough and Von Treuer 2013). Personality profiles associated with policing applicants who were subsequently considered “the best” entry-level police officers based on field evaluations have typically included low scores for Neuroticism, high scores for Conscientiousness and Extraversion, and average scores for Agreeableness and Openness to Experience, all relative to the general population (Detrick and Chibnall 2013). The Five Factor Model (FFM; i.e., Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) has been the main personality model used for selecting police (Aamodt 2010; Spilberg and Corey 2019). A central feature of the FFM has been the claim that there exist only five factors of personality (Ashton and Lee 2007). However, cross-language investigations of the personality lexicons have supported a common set of six dimensions (Ashton and Lee 2007), which have become the basis for the HEXACO model of personality.

The HEXACO Personality Inventory Revised (HEXACO-PI-R; Ashton et al. 2014) measures six factors of personality (i.e., Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience) as well as 24 facets, which are subcomponents of the major personality factors and allow specific predictions about the individual completing the inventory (Lee and Ashton 2006). The HEXACO model is considered more cross-culturally robust than the FFM model of personality, in part due to the Honesty-Humility factor (Ashton et al. 2014; Marcus et al. 2016). The Honesty-Humility factor provides HEXACO with a predictive advantage relative to the FFM for several constructs of interest to police and other PSP (Ashton et al. 2014), including the dark triad personality traits (Lee et al. 2005), egoism (De Vries et al. 2009), workplace delinquency (De Vries and Van Gelder 2015), sexual harassment tendencies (Lee et al. 2003), trustworthiness (Thielmann and Hilbig 2015), and (dis)honesty (Hilbig and Zettler 2015).

Honesty-Humility paired with Agreeableness represents two complementary aspects of the construct of reciprocal altruism, while Emotionality represents tendencies relevant to the construct of kin altruism (Ashton and Lee 2007). Altruism involves both a willingness to help or provide benefits to others and an unwillingness to harm or impose costs on others. The three remaining HEXACO dimensions (i.e., Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) represent tendencies to engage in three independent areas of endeavor: socially (Extraversion), task-related (Conscientiousness), and idea-related (Openness to Experience). Overall, the six HEXACO factors can be readily interpreted in terms of constructs from theoretical biology and interpretations can explain and predict several important personality phenomena that would be overlooked using the FFM.

Despite the strengths of HEXACO as a personality measure, there is limited associated research including (1) Canadian PSP; (2) exploring the notions that RCMP personality traits may be meaningfully different from the general population; and (3) research exploring personality differences among RCMP officers. Gender differences have been evidenced within the general population (Lee and Ashton 2018), but there is limited evidence whether those differences are consistent in police populations and the implications of those differences. A recent study used the Brief HEXACO Inventory (BHI; De Vries 2013) with a diverse sample of currently serving Canadian PSP evidenced potentially important differences relative to the general population (Ramadan et al. 2022); RCMP participants reported higher scores for Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, as well as lower scores for Emotionality, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience, relative to general population (Ramadan et al. 2022). The differences were generally consistent with recruitment expectations based on extant personality profile recommendations for police (Detrick and Chibnall 2013). Gender differences were also observed wherein PSP women reported higher Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, and Agreeableness than PSP men. Higher scores on Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness among women were consistent with the general population. However, there were variations in the gender differences across PSP occupations.

The limited evidence suggests personality differences between PSP and the general population, differences across PSP occupations, and gender differences among PSP consistent with the general population. Differences may also exist between serving PSP and new recruits and other sociodemographic characteristics. Currently, there are no published results for newly recruited RCMP Cadets regarding (1) HEXACO personality profiles; (2) sociodemographic differences in personality profiles; and (3) differences relative to the general population. Access to such results may importantly inform recruitment processes (e.g., selection of personality measures; selection processes) and clarify relationships between personality profiles and risk and resilience profiles for mental health.

The RCMP Longitudinal PTSD Study (i.e., the RCMP Study; Carleton et al. 2022) was designed to develop, deploy, and longitudinally assess a multi-modal mental health solution that includes evidence-based biopsychological assessments and evidence-informed integrated cadet mental health training. The current study draws from the RCMP Study data to address several gaps in personality research regarding RCMP Cadets beginning the Cadet Training Program (CTP); specifically, the first normative HEXACO personality profiles for RCMP Cadets beginning the CTP; differences based on gender and other demographic variables; and differences relative to the general population. Relative to the general population, cadet personality profiles were expected to differ on traits considered relevant for successful police officers (i.e., higher Agreeableness, higher Conscientiousness, lower Emotionality) due to self-selection biases associated with willingness to serve and ability to meet the rigorous CTP selection criteria. Gender differences among RCMP cadets were also expected to be consistent with the general population (e.g., women scoring higher on Emotionality; Lee and Ashton 2004).

Methods

Procedure

Data were collected using a web-based self-report survey in English or French as part of the RCMP study. Full details on the RCMP study can be found here (Carleton et al. 2022). The study was approved by the University of Regina Institutional Research Ethics Board (file No. 2019–055) and the RCMP Research Ethics Board (file No. SKM_C30818021312580). The study was also approved through a Privacy Impact Assessment as part of the overall approval NARMS 201,611,123,286 and PSPC 201,701,491/M7594174191. The current study focused on data collected from the Full Survey at T1 (pre-training) regarding cadet’s self-reported personality traits as defined by the HEXACO model of personality (Lee and Ashton 2004) and self-reported sociodemographic information.

Data and Sample

Participants were RCMP cadets (n = 772) starting the 26-week CTP who chose to participate in the RCMP Study. Cadets must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, 19–57 years old, who can fluently read, write, and speak either English or French. Cadets must also meet several recruiting requirements, including security clearances, medical examinations, a polygraph test, and minimum physical standards. There were no conditions requiring exclusion of persons otherwise qualified for the CTP. Cadets (n = 1696) were invited to participate in the RCMP Study. The final sample was a total of 772 cadets. Participants were mainly men (72.2%), identifying as male (72.0%), 19–29 years old (59.8%), White/Caucasian (72.8%), who were single (47.2%) and married or in common-law relationships (42.9%), from Western Canada (52.8%), with no pervious PSP or military experience (60.1%), and some post-secondary (43.4%) or a university (39.5%) education. Participant sociodemographic information is presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Participant sociodemographic information
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Measures

Personality was assessed using the 100-item self-report HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (HEXACO-PI-R; Lee and Ashton 2009, 2018). The HEXACO-PI-R measures each of the six personality factors, Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O). Each of the six HEXACO factor-level scales includes four facets-level scales, each measured using four items, for a total of 24 facets. A 25th facet-level scale, Altruism, was later added and includes four items (Lee and Ashton 2018). Altruism is an interstitial facet dividing across three factor-level scales, Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness.

For all HEXACO-100 items, a 5-point Likert scale was used with response options ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Within each facet level scale, between one and three of the four items are reversed-scored; within each factor level scale, and between 7 and 10 of the 16 items are reversed scored. A scale score is computed as the average of responses across all items belonging to the scale after recoding reverse-scored items. Personality scores were also calculated to provide results for the 60-item subset of the 100-item HEXACO inventory (Ashton and Lee 2009). The internal consistency reliabilities ranged from 0.73 to 0.80, and correlations between the long and short form range from 0.83 to 0.92 in a community sample (Lee and Ashton 2018; Ashton and Lee 2009). Cronbach’s alphas for the 100-item HEXACO inventory for the current sample were consistent with the extant literature (Lee and Ashton 2018): Honesty-Humility (α = 0.77), Emotionality (α = 0.73), Extraversion (α = 0.80), Agreeableness (α = 0.81), Conscientiousness (α = 0.77), and Openness to Experience (α = 0.85). Slightly lower Cronbach’s alphas for the 60-item HEXACO inventory for the current sample were all acceptable: Honesty-Humility (α = 0.69), Emotionality (α = 0.69), Extraversion (α = 0.78), Agreeableness (α = 0.71), Conscientiousness (α = 0.76), and Openness to Experience (α = 0.75).

Statistical Analyses

Means and standard deviations of HEXACO personality factors (i.e., Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience) reported at T1 were calculated. A series of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) and independent samples t-tests were used to assess for differences in HEXACO scores across sociodemographic categories. A series of z-tests were also used to compare HEXACO scores from the RCMP Cadets to scores from the previously surveyed sample of the general population (Lee and Ashton 2018). The general population personality data was collected using an online version of the HEXACO-100 and was sampled internationally (i.e., Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia). Holm-Bonferroni adjustments to alpha levels in post hoc analyses were conducted to control type I errors in multiple comparisons.

Results

Participant sociodemographic categories and mean scores for the HEXACO-100 and 60 factor-level scales are presented in Table 2. Statistically significant differences were observed for most demographic variables on some of the HEXACO factor-level scales. However, follow-up multiple pairwise comparisons in post hoc tests were not statistically significant due to the application of Holm-Bonferroni adjustments to alpha levels to control familywise error rates. There were statistically significant differences between men and women across all six HEXACO factor-level scales, except for Extraversion. Women reported higher scores on Honesty-Humility (d = 0.409, p < 0.001), Emotionality (d = 0.690, p < 0.001), and Conscientiousness (d = 0.164, p < 0.05) compared to men. Similar results were observed for sex categories. Participants who were 19–29 years old reported statistically significantly lower scores on Honesty-Humility (\({\eta }_{p}^{2}\)=0.025, p < 0.001) compared to those who were 40–49 years old and on Openness to Experience (\({\eta }_{p}^{2}\)=0.034, p < 0.001) compared to other age categories, except those who were 40–49 years old.

Table 2 Categorical participant demographics and mean scores of HEXACO personality among RCMP cadets
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Comparisons between HEXACO-100 factor-level and facet-level scales between cadets and the general population are presented in Table 3. The comparisons were made between total sample, as well as gender categories. For the factor-level scales, the total, men, and women cadet samples reported statistically significantly higher Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and as well as lower levels of Emotionality and Openness to Experience compared to the general population. For the facet-level scales the total, men, and women participants reported statistically significantly higher scores for Sincerity, Fairness, Greed Avoidance, and Modesty under the Honesty-Humility factor; Social Self-Esteem, Social Boldness, Sociability, and Liveliness under the Extraversion factor; Forgiveness, Gentleness, Flexibility, and Patience under the Agreeableness factor; and Organization, Diligence, and Prudence under the Conscientiousness factor. The total sample reported statistically significantly lower scores (less) for Fearfulness, Anxiety, and Sentimentality under the Emotionality factor and Aesthetic Appreciation, Inquisitiveness, Creativity, and Unconventionality under the Openness to Experience factor. Both men and women participants also reported statistically significantly higher scores for Altruism.

Table 3 Comparing mean scores on HEXACO-100 personality among participants with the General Population Scores from Lee and Ashton (2018)
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Comparisons between HEXACO-60 factor-level and facet-level scales between participants and the general population are presented in Table 4. There were also comparisons made across gender categories. For comparisons with the general population, using the 60-item HEXACO inventory, the total, men, and women cadet samples reported statistically significantly higher scores for the same factor-level and facet level scales reported using the HEXACO-100, except for Altruism, which is not measured using the HEXACO-60.

Table 4 Comparing mean scores on HEXACO-60 personality among participants with General Population Scores from Lee and Ashton (2018)
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Discussion

The current study provides the first HEXACO personality profiles of RCMP cadets starting the CTP. The current study also provides the first comparisons of HEXACO factors across cadet sociodemographic groupings and compares cadets to the general population. The current novel findings indicated statistically significant small to moderate differences on several HEXACO personality factor-level scales when comparing RCMP cadets based on gender, sex, age, marital status, education, and place of residence. The current results also indicated statistically significant small to large differences on all HEXACO personality factor-level and facet-level scales when comparing RCMP cadets to the general population.

Statistically significant gender differences were observed on all HEXACO-100 factor-level scales. Cadet women scored higher on Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and Conscientiousness and lower scores on Agreeableness and Openness to Experience. There were no statistically significant differences observed in Extraversion scores. The current results were partially consistent with previous results using the Brief HEXACO Inventory (BHI; De Vries 2013) (Ramadan et al. 2022). Specifically, among a diverse sample of serving PSP, women scored higher than men on Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, and Agreeableness, but lower Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience (Ramadan et al. 2022). Contrasting expectations, the current results also contrast gender differences observed in the general population (Lee and Ashton 2018); women tend to score higher than men on Extraversion, but the absolute difference is small, and Conscientiousness scores tend to be comparable (Lee and Ashton 2018).

Sociodemographic differences were observed across age and education categories. Statistically significantly lower scores for Honesty-Humility were observed for cadets aged 19–29 compared to older cadets (40–49) and statistically significantly lower scores for Openness to Experience were observed for cadets aged 19–29 compared those aged 30–39 and 50–59. Cadets with higher levels of education (e.g., university degree/4-year college or higher) reported higher scores for Openness to Experience. The differences based on age and education were small and should be interpreted with caution. Differences are likely related to having lived longer and completed higher education affording the individual more experiences. Previous research has reported that Openness to Experience tends to demonstrate a curvilinear association with age, with the highest mean scores in midlife (Lehmann et al. 2013).

RCMP cadets, both men and women, reported statistically significantly higher HEXACO-100 scores for Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, but lower for Emotionality and Openness to Experience. The current results were expected based on personality factors identified to be relevant for successful police officers. The results were comparable to men and women in the general population sample (Lee and Ashton 2018) and to results from a previous study (Ramadan et al. 2022) that compared Canadian PSP to the general population. Specifically, serving PSP scores were higher than the general population for Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, but lower for Emotionality, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience (Ramadan et al. 2022).

The differences between cadets and the general population on Openness to Experience may be particularly important. The general population sample was from an online personality questionnaire; as such, their higher scores on Openness to Experience may result from participants having actively sought to complete a personality questionnaire (Lee and Ashton 2018). However, cadets also scored low on Unconventionality when compared to the general population and another sample of students (Lee and Ashton 2018). Unconventionality assesses a tendency to accept the unusual, and low scores tend to be associated with avoiding eccentric or nonconforming persons, which further suggest cadets starting the CTP may have less Openness to Experience.

In the current study, cadets starting the CTP reported higher Honesty-Humility than the general population. The Honesty-Humility scale assesses an important personality construct that is only partially and peripherally represented in measures of the FFM (Ashton and Lee 2007), potentiating HEXACO as a more relevant personality model for police (Ashton et al. 2014; Marcus et al. 2016). Persons with very high scores on Honesty-Humility avoid manipulating others for personal gain, feel little temptation to break rules, and feel no special entitlement to elevated social status (Ashton et al. 2014), characteristics that may help cadets to be honest police officers.

Cadets in the current study also reported lower Emotionality than the general population. In the general population, high Emotionality, along with low Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness, have been reported as predictors of workplace delinquency, which includes taking advantage of situations or neglecting to follow orders (Louw et al. 2016). High scores on Emotionality have also been associated with greater fears of physical dangers, whereas lower scores may be associated with being detached, unemotional, and experiencing less fear when presented with stressful or frightening circumstances (Lee and Ashton 2006). Police officers who score high on Emotionality and Openness to Experience may be better at foreseeing how other will react to their own conduct (Marcus et al. 2016). If police expect others to react reciprocally, the police may want to treat those others with integrity even without a moral obligation (Marcus et al. 2016).

Persons with relatively lower emotionality may at first be considered better suited to engaging with PPTE and occupational stressors; however, interacting with members of the public who are experiencing a PPTE may be better suited to persons who are supportive and empathic, which underscores the potential benefits of moderation with respect to Emotionality. On average, cadets starting the CTP also scored very low on Fearfulness, but not on Sentimentality, both of which are facets of Emotionality. Low scores on Fearfulness have been associated with individual resilience, bravery, and low levels of fear; in contrast, high scores on Sentimentality have been associated with empathy (Lee and Ashton 2006). The current results suggest that cadets may already be exhibiting the balance of emotionality needed to face PPTEs and other occupational stressors while maintaining empathic sensitivity towards others.

Men and women cadets starting the CTP scored higher than the general population on Agreeableness, contrasting previous research evidence from serving PSP who scored lower than the general population (Ramadan et al. 2022). Agreeableness scores among cadet men were higher than cadet women, contrasting evidence from the general population that women score higher than men (Lee and Ashton 2018), which was also evidenced for serving PSP (Ramadan et al. 2022). Persons with very high scores on Agreeableness tend to be lenient in judging others, are willing to compromise and cooperate with others, and can easily control their temper (Ashton et al. 2014). High Agreeableness is also inversely associated with workplace deviance as a function of the ability to get along with others and valuing group belonging (Lind and Lissak 1985). Accordingly, relatively higher scores on Agreeableness may help cadets to be more effective when working together and with their communities.

Participating cadets reported higher Conscientiousness than the general population. Persons with high Conscientiousness scores tend to organize their time and their physical surroundings, work in a disciplined way toward their goals, strive for accuracy and perfection in their tasks, and deliberate carefully when making decisions (Ashton et al. 2014). Among police officers, Conscientiousness has been strongly positively correlated with job performance ratings (Aamodt 2004; Salgado 1997; Spilberg and Corey 2019) and integrity (Marcus et al. 2016). High Conscientiousness may help cadets and RCMP officers to be more organized, disciplined, and goal oriented throughout their careers.

Personality profiles associated with policing applicants who were subsequently considered “the best” entry-level police officers based on subsequent field evaluations have typically included low scores for Neuroticism, high scores for Conscientiousness and Extraversion, and average levels of Agreeableness and Openness to Experience, all relative to the general population (Detrick and Chibnall 2013). The current cadet personality profiles were generally consistent with profiles considered important for successful police officers; however, the HEXACO scales provide important nuanced information regarding Honest/Humility and Emotionality, the details of which may provide helpful insights for recruitment, training, service, and mental health.

There were notable differences on several facet-level scales between cadets and the general population including higher scores on Sociability, Liveliness, Social Self-Esteem, and Altruism and lower scores on Fearfulness and Unconventionality. The current results indicate that RCMP cadets starting the CTP may be better able to detect lies due to high Social Self-Esteem and be no more likely to lie than the general population due to average levels of Sentimentality. Previous research has evidenced that among police, lie production has been reported to be associated with high Sentimentality (Emotionality), and lie detection has been reported to be associated with high Social Self-Esteem (Extraversion). The observed high scores for Fairness and low scores for Fearfulness also stand out among the current results. Fairness assesses ethical integrity while Fearfulness assesses bravery, which would be beneficial for police.

High Altruism scores have been associated with avoiding causing harm and reacting with generosity toward those who need help, whereas low scores have been associated with not being upset by the prospect of hurting others (Ashton et al. 2014). Altruism is intended to represent a blend of the Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality factors, each of which contributes independently to an overall tendency to engage in prosocial or altruistic behaviors (Ashton et al. 2014). Participating cadets reported higher on the Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness, and lower Emotionality factors and higher on the Altruism facet. The current results indicate that cadets starting the CTP are exhibiting personality factors that are likely to produce the prosocial and altruistic behaviors which may be ideal for policing.

Overall, participating cadets starting the CTP scored high on facet-level scales relevant to the factor-level scales on which they also scored highly. The facet scores are associated with characteristics that appear ideal for police officers; specifically, Sincerity, Fairness, Greed Avoidance and Modesty (Honesty-Humility), Sociability (Extraversion), Forgiveness, Gentleness, Flexibility, and Patience (Agreeableness), Diligence, and Prudence (Conscientiousness), as well as higher Altruism and lower Fearfulness and Anxiety (Emotionality).

Cadet Personality profiles were also examined using the HEXACO-60. The properties of the HEXACO-60 are generally very similar to those of the HEXACO-100 (Lee and Ashton 2009, 2018). Using the HEXACO-60 scale, cadets reported scores on the factor-level scales similar to the HEXACO-100, which was robust across sociodemographic groupings and gender. When compared to the general population, cadets reported factor-level and facet-level scale scores similar to the HEXACO-100, which was also robust across gender and relative to the general population. Similarities between the reported outcomes from the HEXACO-100 and HEXACO-60 indicate that the HEXACO-60 may be an effective short-form for the HEXACO-100 among police cadets; however, the HEXACO-60 is limited because the Altruism facet-level scale is excluded and may be particularly important for police.

Strengths and Limitations

The current results extend the knowledge and research using the HEXACO model among RCMP cadets starting the CTP and by extension PSP. The HEXACO-100 and HEXACO-60 produced results comparable to previous research with PSP and previous police cadet research, evidencing Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness to be high among RCMP cadets. Many of these factors and their relevant facets have been associated with behaviors considered ideally suited for police, which suggests that the participating cadets starting the CTP have been very well selected. The current study also extended the knowledge and research using the HEXACO-60 compared to the longer HEXACO-100, indicating comparable results.

There are several limitations to the current study that provide directions for future research. Cadets (n = 1696) were invited to participate in the RCMP Study. The current sample only reflects approximately 45.5% of the cadets starting the CTP and included larger proportions of men (72.2% than women. The current sample also included larger proportions of cadets from Western Canada (52.8%) and aged 19–29 years old (59.8%); therefore, the current sample may not be entirely representative of the entire RCMP cadet population. However, the survey sociodemographics indicate that the sample was generally proportionally consistent with the age and gender of cadets. The voluntary nature of cadet participation in the RCMP Study creates an unknowable influence from self-selection biases. Participant responses were based on anonymous self-reporting to a web-based survey. The reliability and validity of web-based self-reported mental disorder symptom clusters remain ambiguous for the current population (Bethlehem 2010). Meta-analytic comparisons of self-report and interview assessments suggest against substantial differences (Berger et al. 2012). The cross-sectional nature of the current analyses limits the generalizability of results and the potential utility of personality traits as part of screening processes to “select out” or “select in” RCMP cadets. Additionally, some of the differences observed between factors and their relevant facets are small and should be interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, the current results provide critical foundations for the longitudinal work associated with the RCMP Study that is necessary for next steps that may inform screening processes.

Conclusion

The current results provide the first HEXACO-100 personality profiles of RCMP cadets and compare these profiles to the general population and across sociodemographic characteristics. The current results indicated differences between RCMP cadets and the general population on several HEXACO-100 personality traits and differences among RCMP cadets between men and women. There is also evidence of differences on HEXACO-100 personality traits for cadets who were older than 40 years of age, residing in Eastern Canada, separated/divorced, or held a university degree or higher. There were several important personality dimensions and facets that may be indicative of cadets exhibiting behaviors ideal for police officers. The current results may impact selection tools for law enforcement agencies by highlighting several advantages of the HEXACO-100 and 60 over the FFM and personality dimensions and facets predictive of behaviors relevant to the performance of police officers and therefore provide insight into how a cadet might perform as an RCMP officer.