Quality of Police Leadership Scale (QPLS): Psychometric Characteristics and Associations with Psychosocial Outcomes for Officers

• In Event: Law Enforcement Attitudes Toward Leadership, Promotion, and Change

Abstract

The present study developed the Quality of Police Leadership Scale (QPLS) to identify dimensions of leadership characteristics as perceived by police officers for their immediate supervisors. The present study also examined which of these dimensions of police leadership were most associated with possible negative psychosocial outcomes for officers. Participants included 152 American police officers who completed anonymous surveys to report individual and police department demographics, to rate leadership behaviors of immediate supervisors, and to report a number of psychosocial variables: self-esteem, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, job satisfaction, perceived police social support, and romantic partner conflict. Exploratory factor analysis produced the 20-item Quality of Police Leadership Scale (QPLS) with three dimensions of leadership: Clear Communication, Effective Training, Fairness and Honesty. The QPLS subscales showed goodness-of-fit, and strong internal reliability. Clear Communication from supervisors was associated with more perceived police support, more job satisfaction, and surprisingly, more PTSD symptoms. Effective Training was associated with reduced PTSD and more job satisfaction. Fairness and Honesty was associated with reduced PTSD, better self-esteem, more perceived police support, more job satisfaction, and less partner conflict.

Authors

• Salih H. Can, Pennsylvania State University

• Helen H. Hendy, Pennsylvania State University