engleski

Gender and stress in police occupation

The aim of this study was to examine gender differences in relation to police stress. Gender differences were analyzed using following variables: police stress, life stress, burnout and social support. The respondent sample comprised of 80, 1% (n=145) males and 19, 9% (n=36) females, with an average age of 31, 62 (s=5, 26). Following instruments were used: Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Org, McCreary & Thompson, 2006), Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op, McCreary & Thompson, 2006), Social Support Scale (Caplan et al, 1975), Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), Life stress was measured with scale constructed by authors of his research. Participants gave answers on 5 point Likert scale regarding their overall life stress level. General findings suggest that police officers are under higher organizational than operational stress (t=3, 905, p<0.05). They are under moderate life stress (M=2.93, s=0.872). Regarding burnout, results show that the highest percent of respondents show symptoms of depersonalization (86.9%) and feeling of reduced personal accomplishment (60.4%), followed by moderate level of emotional exhaustion (46.7%). About social support, when under stress, police officers receive greater support from their colleagues (M=14.46, s=3.10) compared with support received from family (M=11.46, s=3.08) and superiors (M=10.58, 3.36). Although women showed higher level of symptoms on all three burnout scales, no statistically significant gender differences were found. Although we expected to find gender differences regarding stress in police occupation, results suggest that in relation to police stress, female and male police officers experience stress in similar way.

police stress ; life stress ; burnout and social support

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