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Balancing work and family in dual-earner households can be stressful. Research suggests that increased work-family conflict (WFC) significantly predicts poor psychological health and increased stress in police officers. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether child care stress was associated with anxiety symptoms and if stressful work events and shift work modified this relationship among 163 Buffalo, NY police officers.

Participants indicated child care stress by reporting how much stress they felt (0 – none to 10 – high) when making child care/daily living arrangements. Shiftwork was assessed from pay-roll data (1994 to date of exam) and by asking, “Do you work opposite shift from your spouse/partner to care for your children?” to assess partner’s shift. The Beck Anxiety Scale and Spielberger Police Stress Survey were used to assess anxiety and work stress, respectively. Effect modification was assessed by stratifying on police stress scores using their median values, and on partner’s shift. All models were adjusted for age, alcohol intake, sex and smoking status.

Results suggest that child care stress was positively associated with anxiety symptoms and that this relationship was moderated by high (>median) work stress factors and afternoon/midnight shift-work, but not having a partner who works opposite shift. These results indicate that child care stress is associated with anxiety symptoms and that this relationship may be modified by work factors.

A number of limitations should be considered while interpreting the results. This study is cross-sectional, which prevents causal inferences; therefore, the temporal pattern between exposure and outcome cannot be determined. The independent, dependent and moderating variables are all self-report measures, which may introduce recall bias. Lastly, generalizability is limited to police departments of similar size and geographic area.

Police experience high stress as part of their jobs, these results indicate that similar to other professions, WFC can also affect police officers, and is associated with higher levels of anxiety.

Few research studies have evaluated the affects of family issues in police. Specifically, the relationship between child care stress and anxiety, and how this relationship may be modified by high work stress.

This study explores the impact of work environment, work‐family conflict, and coping mechanisms on physical and psychological stresses of police officers. Using survey data from a large police department located in the New England area, we pay specific attention to analyzing similar and dissimilar results while comparing across gender groups. Our research indicates that for both gender groups, work‐family conflict (spillover) and destructive coping mechanisms are among the strongest and most consistent stressors, regardless of the measures of dependent variable employed (i.e. somatization, anxiety and depression). On the other hand, we also find divergent impact of exposures to negative work environment, camaraderie, and constructive coping mechanisms on different measures of work related stresses across the two gender groups. Implications of these convergent and divergent effects are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of work-family conflicts (WFC) on job stress and its subsequent impact on job satisfaction among the police officials. It also examined the moderating effect of the social support from organisations between employees’ job stress and satisfaction.

The authors conducted a survey on 599 police officials associated with 20 police stations in New Delhi, India. The study involved a hierarchical regression analysis to examine the relationship between independent (WFC) and dependent (satisfaction) variable with the mediator (stress) as well as the moderator (social support).

The findings revealed that stress mediated the relationship between WFC and satisfaction of the police officials. Further, social support acted as a moderator between their job stress and satisfaction.

The study findings added a new chapter in the existing literature by developing a comprehensive framework that considers different dimensions, i.e. WFC and job stress in Indian context.

The study has originality and offers value to police organisation as it focuses on police officials, and explores their WFC and job stress and its subsequent effect on their job satisfaction.

The predominant psychological type among senior police officers is the extraverted‐sensing‐thinking‐judgement type, pragmatic and practical and thus ideally suited to many aspects of police work, according to data presented to 119 Australian senior police officers. The high proportion of extraverted‐thinking‐sensing‐judgement types may explain the common macho‐image of policemen. Low levels of self‐actualisation among police officers may limit honesty, openness, flexibility and concern for the good of the police force and society, as well as contributing to stress, so this aspect must be dealt with.

In view of the absence of police stress research in Greece, the purpose of this paper is to measure occupational stress among police officers and to investigate occupational stress risk factors.

A cross-sectional study with a convenience sample was conducted among 336 police officers in Athens, Greece. Data collection was performed during January to March 2018 and the response rate was 77.8 percent. Demographic characteristics, job characteristics, lifestyle factors and coping strategies were considered possible risk factors. The “Operational Police Stress Questionnaire” and the “Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire” were used to measure occupational stress, while the “Brief Cope” questionnaire was used to measure coping strategies.

Regarding service operation, the most stressor events were personal relationships outside work, tiredness, bureaucracy, injury risk and lack of leisure for family and friends. Regarding service organization, the most stressor events were lack of personnel, inappropriate equipment, lack of meritocracy, lack of sources and inappropriate distribution of responsibilities in work. According to multivariate analysis, increased use of avoidance-focused coping strategy, and decreased sleeping, physical exercise and family/friends support were associated with increased occupational stress. Moreover, police officers who work out of office experienced more occupational stress than police officers who work in office.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in Greece addressing the risk factors for occupational stress among police officers. Modifiable occupational stress risk factors among police officers were found and should be carefully managed to decrease stress and improve mental health.

The relationship between routine work stress and psychological distress was investigated among 733 police officers in three US cities, during 1998‐1999. The Work Environment Inventory (WEI) was developed to assess exposure to routine work stressors, while excluding duty‐related traumatic stressors (critical incidents). The WEI and its general properties are presented. The relationship between routine work stress exposure and psychological distress is then explored. Exposure to routine work stressors predicted general psychological distress (r = 0.46), as well as post‐traumatic stress symptoms following officers’ most traumatic career incident (rs = 0.26 to 0.39). Multivariate analyses found that these effects were independent of, and larger than, the effects of cumulative critical incident exposure. (Time since the most traumatic event, social support, and social desirability effects were also controlled statistically.) Routine occupational stress exposure appears to be a significant risk factor for psychological distress among police officers, and a surprisingly strong predictor of post‐traumatic stress symptoms.

The purpose of the present study was to identify common stressors and the magnitude of stress reactivity in police officers during the course of general duty police work. Using heart rate as a primary indicator of autonomic nervous system activation, coupled with observed physical activity data collected through 76 full shift ride‐alongs, this study differentiates between physical and psycho‐social stress. The results, confirming previous research based on self‐report data alone, demonstrate that police officers experience both physical and psycho‐social stress on the job, anticipating stress as they go about their work, while suffering anticipatory stress at the start of each shift. The results demonstrated that the highest levels of stress occur just prior to and during critical incidents, and that officers do not fully recover from that stress before leaving their shift. Overall, the results illustrate the need to consider stress reactivity and repressors in the assessment of police officer stress while clearly demonstrating the need for debriefing after critical incidents and increased training in stress management and coping strategies.

This study aims to assess the direct and indirect impact of stress on police use of force among a sample of male South Korean frontline officers (n=574).

Largely drawing on a methodological approach adopted by Manzoni and Eisner the paper employs a structural equation modeling approach.

The study discovered a direct positive influence of operational stress on use of force frequency, even while controlling for police routine activities and police victimization.

The findings of this study and their implications are discussed in depth against the unique South Korean background where frontline officers are routinely victimized by suspects and citizens.

Police, it has been claimed, are at constant risk of danger. While theirs is not the only occupation that involves personal danger some factors about the type of threats police work with make such stress unique. A consensus has been built which claims that policing is a high stress job. Reviews the literature pertaining to four questions that revolve around the issues of policing and occupationally rated violence. To what extent is exposure to violence of one form or another a significant stressor for police? What are the pattern of stressors, overall, for police and how does violence rate within this pattern? What factors might be isolated that augment the effects of violence, and what are the effects of violence? Finally, what characteristics of police coping may be identified that either ameliorate or exacerbate the effects of stress?

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether management supports police officers adequately, or whether police have to rely on their individual attributes, specifically psychological capital (PsyCap), to cope with red tape and stress. Work outcomes/consequences examined were discretionary power, affective commitment and turnover intentions.

A cross-sectional design using a survey-based, self-report strategy was used to collect data from 588 police officers from USA, who are most engaged with the public. The data were analysed using AMOS and a structural model to undertake structural equation modelling.

Two significant paths were identified Path 1: management support to red tape to discretionary power to affective commitment and turnover intentions; and Path 2: supervisor relationships to PsyCap to stress to affective commitment and turnover intentions. Further, management support predicted PsyCap, red tape and police stressors. Red tape increased police stressors and turnover intentions.

The use of self-report surveys is a limitation, causing common methods bias. Using Harmon’s one-factor post hoc test, the authors were able to provide some assurance that common method bias was of no major concern.

As far as is known, this study is the first to examine, for police officers, how PsyCap impacts upon negative factors (stress and red tape) and enhances positive drivers for employees. Examining the impact of an individual attribute – PsyCap – provides an important piece of the organizational puzzle in explaining the commitment and turnover intentions of police officers. By examining the impact of both organizational and individual factors, there is now more knowledge about the antecedents of police outcomes.