Individual Differences in Self-Regulation Do Not Predict Firearm Skill Acquisition During Police Training: A Longitudinal Study of 205 Trainees

Police firearm training requires perceptual discrimination, decision-making, speed–accuracy control, and technical motor execution under institutional evaluation. This retrospective longitudinal study examined whether self-regulation-related psychological characteristics predicted firearm skill acquisition during an official Brazilian Federal Police training program. Two hundred five trainees completed a 13-week firearm course with standardized live-fire assessments using the Four-Color Target Test. Impulsivity, perceived stress, and self-control were assessed with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10/EPS-10), and the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS). Adjusted linear regression models tested associations with early shooting performance and final shooting performance, whereas linear mixed-effects models tested whether psychological scores predicted the rate of improvement across repeated assessments. Models adjusted for age, body mass index, sex, hand dominance, and previous firearm-training experience; final-performance models also adjusted for early shooting performance. Shooting performance improved across training, and early standardized shooting performance predicted final attainment. However, BIS-11, PSS-10/EPS-10, and BSCS scores did not significantly predict early performance, the linear rate of improvement, or final performance after accounting for early shooting ability. BIS-11 subscales and a composite self-regulation index showed the same general pattern. These findings indicate that, in a highly structured and supervised police academy firearm-training context, broad self-regulation-related self-report traits had limited value for predicting firearm skill acquisition.