Understanding Stress in Female and Male Law Enforcement Officers

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy K. Norvell ◽  
Holly A. Hills ◽  
Mary R. Murrin
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Occupational Stress ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Daily Hassles ◽  
State Highway ◽  
Female Officers

Gender issues in the male-dominated profession of law enforcement have not been closely examined. In the current study, 52 female officers of a state highway patrol agency were matched with 52 male officers. Participants completed a confidential assessment packet to examine their satisfaction with work, perceived stress, physical symptoms, daily hassles, and aspects of burnout. Results suggest that male officers experience a greater degree of perceived stress and emotional exhaustion and greater dissatisfaction with their work than do women. In female officers, perceived stress was related to physical symptoms, dissatisfaction with the nature of the work, dissatisfaction with co-workers, and feelings of emotional exhaustion. In male officers, perceived stress was related to physical symptoms, dissatisfaction with co-workers, dissatisfaction with work, and emotional exhaustion. Gender differences in terms of officers' expectations and beliefs about the profession as well as the possible differential effects of marital status on occupational stress are discussed.

Association between health-related fitness, perceived stress, and metabolic syndrome prevalence in a sample of law enforcement officers

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-274
Author(s):  
Benjamin Chase ◽  
Timothy Brusseau ◽  
Ryan Burns ◽  
James Hannon ◽  
Hester Henderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Waist Circumference ◽  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Linear Relationship ◽  
Glucose Levels ◽  
Health Related

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the association between components of metabolic syndrome with health-related fitness (HRF) and perceived stress in a sample of law enforcement officers.Design/methodology/approachLaw enforcement officers (N = 28) from the Mountain West region of the US reported their HRF scores (1.5 mile run, push-up, and sit-ups), had their blood drawn (glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)) and had their waist circumference and blood pressure measured in a fasted state. Officers also completed a short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity (SQUASH) and both the Organizational and Operational Police Stress Questionnaires (PSQ-Org, PSQ-Op).FindingsLinear regression models revealed a positive linear relationship between glucose levels and 1.5 mile run times (beta = 0.560, p = 0.021, R2 = 0.24). A bivariate positive linear relationship between waist circumference and 1.5 mile run times was found to be significant (R2 = 0.17, p = 0.041). For every minute increase in 1.5-mile run times, PSQ-Org scores significantly increased by 0.543 standard deviations (p = 0.022) with 25% of the variance explained (R2 = 0.25). There were no statistically significant parameter estimates from the logistic regression equations when dependent variables were treated on the categorical measurement scale using recommended cut-points.Research limitations/implicationsIn conclusion, those who performed better on the 1.5 mile run were more likely to have lower fasting glucose levels, experience less stress and have a smaller waist circumference.Practical implicationsTherefore, according to these findings, it is imperative for those in law enforcement to improve their cardiorespiratory endurance to minimize stress and reduce their risk of metabolic syndrome.Originality/valueThis research is novel according to a recent PubMed search using the keywords “law enforcement,” “Metabolic Syndrome” and “fitness testing.”

Gender Differences in Law Enforcement Officer Stress and Coping Strategies

2021 ◽  
pp. 109861112110375
Author(s):  
Heidi S. Bonner ◽  
Andy Brimhall
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Safety Factors ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Positive Coping ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Traumatic Stressors ◽  
Female Officers

Law enforcement officers, like many professionals, are not immune to the effect of stress on their overall health. In fact, law enforcement officers may be particularly vulnerable to these effects due to unique and sometimes traumatic stressors inherent in their work. Further, male and female officers may experience the stressors of the law enforcement profession, and the coping strategies used in response to stress, differently. Using survey data collected from a sample of law enforcement officers in a large urban police agency in the southeastern United States, this research examines the differences between male and female officers in terms of perception of stressors in policing and coping strategies used in response to stress. The findings indicate that female officers have significantly higher mean stress scores on several items (particularly those regarding safety factors) and are significantly more likely to use positive coping strategies compared to male officers.

Policewomen, Policemen, or Both?: Recruitment and Training Implications for Responses to Woman Battering

1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Belknap
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Women Victims ◽  
Police Training ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Male Violence ◽  
Female Officers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Woman Battering ◽  
And Training

Since the 1970s, police training and recruitment has been impacted by two feminist concerns: the low number of female officers and charges of ineffective responses to women victims of male violence. This study analyzes 324 law enforcement officers' responses as to whether policewomen, policemen, or a combination are best suited to respond to woman battering overall, battering victims, and batterers. In addition, the analysis accounts for the relationship between officers' demographic characteristics and their responses. In short, the findings of this study suggest that policemen are less enthusiastic about policewomen's contributions to policing woman battering, than policewomen are of policemen's contributions. Further, the only demographic characteristics related to the officers' responses are their sex and departmental affiliation. (Officers' race, age, education, rank, shift, years of experience, and SES were unrelated to their responses.)

Occupational stress and psychological functioning in law enforcement officers

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Pasillas ◽  
Victoria M. Follette ◽  
Suzanne E. Perumean-Chaney
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Occupational Stress ◽  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Stress- and Burnout-Related Factors of University Professors

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Laura Redondo-Flórez ◽  
José Francisco Tornero-Aguilera ◽  
Domingo Jesús Ramos-Campo ◽  
Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Psychological Disorder ◽  
Burnout Syndrome ◽  
Dry Mouth ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
University Professors

The aim of the present study was to analyse the gender differences in stress-related factors of university professors. A cross-sectional study was carried out, where gender differences in psychological, nutrition, physical activity, and oral health stress-related factors were analysed in 470 Spanish university professors (58.7% male and 41.3% female, 42.1 ± 9.2   years ) through a compendium of questionnaires. The results showed how females presented significantly ( p ≤ 0.05 ) higher scores than males in perceived stress (females: 22.15 ± 4.40 vs. males: 19.69 ± 3.61 ), emotional exhaustion (females: 20.86 ± 9.51 vs. males: 16.44 ± 9.12 ), and neuroticism (females: 5.53 ± 1.97 vs. males: 4.77 ± 1.96 ). These results may be related to higher probabilities to suffer the burnout syndrome, showing possible physical symptoms of this psychological disorder such as dry mouth and gastritis or heartburn. We concluded that female professors presented higher burnout perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, and neuroticism levels than males. Females also presented higher dry mouth, gastritis, and heartburn than males. Female professors showed healthier nutritional habits than males, presenting higher consumption of milk products and fruit per day, a higher number of meals, and less eating between hours and fried food consumption. Nevertheless, females consumed fewer water glasses and practised less weekly sport than male professors.

Sexual Harassment of Law Enforcement Officers: Findings From a Nationally Representative Survey

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052097818
Author(s):  
Bruce G. Taylor ◽  
Poulami Maitra ◽  
Elizabeth Mumford ◽  
Weiwei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Law Enforcement Leaders ◽  
Job Role ◽  
Female Officers

Sexual harassment continues to be a consistent destructive feature of American life and workplaces, especially in fields for which women are under-represented, such as law enforcement. We use one of the first nationally representative cross-sectional surveys ( n = 2,867) of female and male law enforcement officers (LEOs) to assess the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment victimization. Next, we assess how risk factors are related to this harassment through multivariable modeling. We observed large differences between rates of sexual harassment for female compared to male officers on both our measures of non-physical and physical workplace sexual harassment (sexual assault). Our combined measure of non-physical sexual harassment and sexual assault of female officers (71%) was in the range found in prior research and our 41% rate for male officers is also not trivial and requires attention from law enforcement leaders. We tested two competing hypotheses on whether female officers (and possibly some male officers not meeting certain definitions of masculinity) viewed as the most threatening by virtue of their job role in the male-dominated hierarchy will have the highest probability of being a victim of workplace sexual harassment (power-threat model) or whether those viewed as the most vulnerable officers will have the highest probability of sexual harassment victimization (vulnerable-victim model). We found greater support for the vulnerable-victim model. We discuss the implications of these results for guiding training and prevention strategies to address sexual harassment in the law enforcement workplace.

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