Reality shock and mental resilience among adolescent police cadets: meaning, identity, and relational pathways in a Chinese police academy context

Introduction

Adolescent police cadets are trained in an institutional environment where schooling, collective discipline, physical training, peer living, and early occupational socialization are closely intertwined. This environment may provide structure and purpose, but may also expose cadets to a distinctive form of vocational environmental risk. However, the psychological pathways through which environmental risk and personal resources are linked to mental resilience in this population remain underexplored.