Comparison of Police Stressors and Negative Psychosocial Outcomes for Officers in Departments With and Without Community Conflict Directed Toward Them

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Police Work

Abstract

The present study offers a unique comparison of workplace stressors and negative psychosocial outcomes for police officers with and without community conflict directed toward their departments, using identical measures for each sample. Participants included 233 Turkish officers from Istanbul who were presently receiving community conflict targeting their department, and 207 officers from the northeastern United States who were not experiencing such community conflict. Results revealed that the Turkish officers reported less intense stressors from Critical Incidents than did the USA officers, perhaps because the atypical stressor of community conflict directed at their department reduced concerns about more typical Critical Incidents of police work (burglaries, car accidents, barricaded suspects).

Authors

• Salih Hakan Can, Penn State University - Schuylkill

• James F Albrecht, University of New Haven