Stress Patterns in Police Work: A Longitudinal Study

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Table of Contents

Research Problem
Measurement
Research Design
Sampling
Data Collection
Results
Implications of the Findings
Reference

Research Problem

The research problem identified by the investigator relates to the prevalence of distress in the police occupation. According to the researcher, the definition of stress significantly applies to the police situation (Violanti, 1983). Stress develops from the perceived imbalance between the social environment and an individual, where failure to meet demands results in severe consequences. Faced with stringent legal regulations and patrolling demands, the police can undoubtedly perceive work as out of control. Moreover, the probability of failure in a police task is high because many crimes remain unsolved, and court cases are dismissed. Therefore, the police working conditions seem to fit the articles definition of stress: many job demands, a low response capability, and the possibility of failing. The research problem is clearly stated as it provides a comprehensive overview of the issue and acknowledges other researchers perspectives.

The study was conducted because police officers are highly affected by stress-related sicknesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and suicide attempts. The police were ranked highest in heart disease among professional occupations, including lawyers, physicians, and professors. In addition, the rates of suicide in the line of work were twice as high, and it outnumbered officer homicides (Violanti, 1983). The author states that approximately 1500 police officers in New York City needed psychiatric help for stress complications within one year. Lastly, compensation claims in the occupation were found to be six times higher than other jobs, with thirty percent claims related to psychological problems and fifty percent linked to high blood pressure. Therefore, police work is among the most stressful occupations; therefore, it is critical to study this trend to ensure police work is done effectively without affecting the officers or citizens they handle. The purpose of this research is to examine the stress levels at various stages throughout a police officers career. There is no theoretical basis for this study. The research questions developed for this research are: is there a possibility that police officers perceptions on stress change after sustained exposure to the job, and is stress related to police work constant?

Measurement

The primary variable of the study was the mean stress measure, which was derived from the Langner-22 list of withdrawal and physiological items. The items were answered in terms of a scale of five points ranging between strongly agree and strongly disagree. For every respondent, the stress measure was the sum of these 22 items. The score of officers involved in the study fluctuated between 22 and 110. The independent variable used was the length of police service, which was divided into four stages depending on the number of years an officer has been working (Violanti, 1983). The stages are alarm (0-5 years), disenchantment (6-13 years), personalization (14-20 years), and introspection (over 20 years). The independent variable is adequate because it has been operationally defined. The authors provided a precise elucidation of the variable mentioned above and how it is measured, which involves the criteria used to group police officers into these stages. By doing this, the investigator will ensure that the experiment does exactly what it needs to manipulate or do to obtain the expected changes on the dependent variable. An operational definition of the independent variable allows the researcher to measure it and establish if it is the one affecting changes on the other variable.

The dependent variable employed was the mean stress score for each respondent. The conceptualization is adequate because it is uniform and stable. If a similar experiment is conducted using the same conditions, experimental manipulations, and respondents, the outcomes on the dependent variable are likely to be very close or equal to what was obtained in this experiment. The measures used by the investigator were valid because the Langner-22 item test employed is simple and extensively used in stress studies (Violanti, 1983). Although controversies over the implementation of Langners scale exist, the method is predicted to be a valid psychological stress measure. However, due to a conceptual confounding of the dependent and independent variables, the measure is not reliable as it is an incomplete measure of mental issues, including stress-related problems.

Research Design

A research design is the selected, overall strategy that integrates the different study components in a logical and coherent way to ensure the research problem is addressed effectively. Violanti (1983) collected data from respondent officers through the Langner-22 item test, which gave the mean stress score of each individual. The figures were compared with the duration of police service, and a line graph was drawn to illustrate how the mean stress score changes at every stage of service (Violanti, 1983). The curvilinear relationship between career stages and stress was tested using polynomial regression. The method adds successive powers of the length of service to the regression equation to account for datas curvilinearity. The regression equation used in the present study is stress = A + B₁ (police service length) + B₂ (police service length)².

Every independent variable power added symbolizes a bend in the regression line. Since the graph shows one bend, it means that only one power was added. During the initial stages before the bend, the mean stress score increased significantly as police service length increased. However, in the stages after the bend in the line, there was a significant decrease in stress as police service duration increased (Violanti, 1983). Threats to this research designs internal and external validity include the omitted variable bias, possible measurement errors, misspecification of the regression functions, simultaneous causality bias, and missing the sample selection and data. The omitted variable bias occurs when the independent variable is measured imprecisely, and the error does not disappear even in large sample sizes. The aforementioned sources may cause the polynomial regression model estimator to be inconsistent and biased for the independent variables causal effect on the dependent variable. Therefore, the analysis of curvilinearity via polynomial regression should be restricted to experimental research.

Sampling

The target population in this study was police officers from Western New York police organizations. The sampling frame included full-time officers from twenty-one departments in the state. The frame from which the studys sample was derived is appropriate as it included all officers in the target population. In addition, it constituted respondents who were currently in service and were available during the data collection process. A simple random sampling technique was used to randomly select five hundred full-time officers from the population to take part in the Langner-22 item test (Violanti, 1983). Since the size of police stations varied, smaller organizations were oversampled compared to larger ones. The technique was used because it is straightforward and common in quantitative research. One benefit of the aforementioned approach is that every instance of the population is given an equal opportunity to be chosen. Therefore, this guarantees that the selected sample is an appropriate representative of the sampling frame and that the selection happens in an unbiased manner.

To randomly choose the sample, the random number design was used to assign each police officer in the population a number. By using a random number table, a subset of integers was picked from the entire table, and police officers who correspond to the assigned numbers became part of the population (Violanti, 1983). Most random number tables have about 10,000 random numbers, which are composed of whole numbers between zero and nine. The random selection process continues until the desired sample size is achieved. An advantage of using random tables is that all integers have an equal chance of being selected and, therefore, its use is an efficient way of obtaining a random sample necessary for valid study outcomes. When used on large sample sizes, the sampling technique has high external validity as it represents the larger populations characteristics.

Data Collection

The data collection method used in this study is the Langner-22 item test. The technique measures psychological strain in individuals and is theorized as a variable that intervenes between recent lifestyle changes and adverse health transformation. In this study, the test was composed of twenty-two withdrawal and psycho-physiological items, which were used as a stress measure. Some of the things included in the approach are feeling weak much of the time, being in high spirits, and the sense of being apart even in the company of friends. The aforementioned concepts were answered ranging from strongly disagree and strongly agree responses (Violanti, 1983). Every reply would be awarded points between one and five, respectively, and the sum of these points was employed as the stress measure. In addition, each officer indicated the number of years they have served full-time in the job, and this allowed appropriate placement into the right career stage. Subsequently, the results were discussed in light of the comparison between the stages or length of police service and the mean stress score.

One advantage of using Langners scale is that it is simple and extensively used in research related to stress. The test is a pioneering epidemiological tool that is widely implemented in detecting field cases related to mental issues. Secondly, the scale items are close-ended questions that seek to address self-reported psycho-physiological, psychological, and physiological complaints (Violanti, 1983). Therefore, this means that it is appropriate for measuring mental illnesses, such as stress disorders. Moreover, the items were selected based on their ability to isolate known well and known ill groups. However, the technique does not detect some psychological problems, including mental retardation, organic brain damage, and dimensions of anxiety, depression, anger, delusion, concentration difficulty, suspicion, and memory loss. Another disadvantage is that the scale cannot be used for diagnostic purposes because it does not determine the type of mental illness affecting an individual.

Results

According to the results, there was a curvilinear relationship between the mean stress score and the stages (length) of police service. The findings also show that the level of stress changes through the various officer career stages. Stress tends to increase in police officers in the alarm stage because the mean stress score increased to 53.31 from 40.35 during the initial five service years. Although stress levels will remain high from the first stage, police officers in the disenchantment stage do not experience increased stress. In the personalization stage, stress begins to reduce as the stress scores decreased from 58.12 to 45.6 from fourteen years to twenty years, respectively (Violanti, 1983). Finally, stress continues to decrease in the introspection stage. The stress scores lowered to 40.50 in police officers who are thirty-six years old. However, there was some stress increase before twenty-five years. The author noted that the increased tension might be due to anxiety about the expected retirement, but stress tends to decrease after this age.

The above results prove the studys hypotheses, and, therefore, they fit with the original objectives. The first research question was to determine the possibility that police officers stress perceptions change due to continued exposure to the job. According to the research, police officers manage to reduce work stress on time despite the strong imbalances and pressures that arise from stressful working conditions. Therefore, this shows that they adapt and cast off the severities of work burdens. The second objective was to investigate whether stress is constant throughout the length of police service (Violanti, 1983). The researcher established that stress is not a continuous element in police service as it varies based on the perception that officers have of their work at different career stages. There was a significant increase in stress during the initial thirteen years of their career, which decreases substantially with increased service time.

Implications of the Findings

The investigators first conclusion is that stress is not consistent in police work as it depends on officer perception at different career stages. The aforementioned findings are linked to the complex association between work roles and individuals; workplace responsibilities offer people the best way of achieving intricate life goals, but they must pay the membership price, which involves the restriction of will, psychological well-being, or control. Violanti (1983) explains the importance of the above findings using three reasons. First, they explained how stress affects police officers throughout the course of their careers. By doing this, the researcher filled a research gap because this had not been previously investigated.

Secondly, the study demonstrated that individual officers are not entirely at the mercy of job pressures that stress them. Officers can manage to reduce stress in their lives despite the imbalances and strong pressures that arise from stressful work environments. Subsequently, this demonstrates that an individual police officer can perceptually adapt to the challenges that come with the police function and eliminate job pressure rigors. Based on this idea, Violanti (1983) reinforced individual perceptions efficacy in identifying stress levels. Lastly, the research findings can be used in isolating problem years in police departments. A significant outcome of the investigation showed that there is a substantial stress increase in the initial two stages of service (0-13 years). Managers can, for instance, concentrate stress reduction programs on officers in these particular phases. Moreover, new officers can be oriented on the possible stress periods in their future years of service. The author also concluded that police work stress seems to go through a predictable course, which highly depends on the perception of the workplace surrounding and experience.

With regards to discussing avenues for further research, the author stated that police departments could focus stress reduction programs on employees in the first two stages of their career. Future research can concentrate on developing evidence-based stress reduction approaches among police officers with less than thirteen years in the work. Subsequent research can also center on training police officers on, for example, perception modification or career adaptation early enough to reduce stress levels as they advance their jobs. Since the course of stress in police work had not been investigated in the past, this study opens an untapped area of research that could be advanced by other professionals in the field.

An area that should be expanded on the topic of police work and stress is police stressors. Investigation on the most significant sources of police stress will allow police departments and administrators to determine the frequency of these stressors and how they affect their health. Consequently, strategies to lower the exposure of police officers to these stressors can be established. The shortcoming of this study is that the author did not establish whether the elected sample is an appropriate representation of the entire police force in America. The data was collected from 21 police departments in Western New York State only. Violanti (1983) did not conduct a power analysis on the chosen sample, and this makes it impossible to ascertain the sufficiency of the sample in minimizing type 2 errors. Another limitation is that the researcher did not provide a comprehensive overview of the studys limitations and strengths. The study did not have any spurious issues because the dependent and independent variables are associated and causally related.

Reference

Violanti, J. (1983). Stress patterns in police work: A longitudinal study. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 11(2), 211216.

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