Politcal Stress Essay, Research Paper
Stress originally came from the Latin word ?strictus? meaning strict. Stress causes mental or physical tension or strain, which can deform a person. In a sense, stress causes a restrictive hold on the body and mind, which causes a person to act in ways that are out of the norm for them. Stress can be described as the force itself, meaning whatever is bringing the force upon a person. Police work is very stressful due to the pressures of the job, and strict legal limitations.
Many researchers have examined the basic stressors involved in policing. Violanti and Aron (1995) believe that there are two major categories mentioned by officers. These are organizational practices, and the inherent nature of police work (Spielberger, et al. 1981; Martelli et al. 1989; Violanti and Aron, 1995).
Police stress has been examined by a variety of researchers, Evans et al. (1992) has reviewed a range of research studies on the police personality and coping. Most of the reviewed research argues that police officers change their coping strategies and behaviors overtime, with some of these changes actually contributing to officers reported stress experiences and stress levels. In everyday work duties, police officers are involved in a number of activities that may be very stressful, and constant exposure to these stressful events possibly leads to a number of psychological and physical outcomes (Evans, et al. 1992).
Chan and Grossman (1988) studied the immediate effects of stressors which have shown that subjects report higher levels of helplessness and feelings of lack of control, and greater psychological distress including depression, anxiety, confusion and overall mood disturbances when they are stressed (Chan and Grossman, 1988). In longer terms, individuals may experience changes in their personalities, which reflect alterations of their typical coping strategies (Skolnick, 1973; Singleton, 1977).
In situations of extreme stress, officers may display the symptoms usually associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Evans, et al. 1992). It is common for individuals who undergo a traumatic event to experience such emotional states such as fear, anxiety, guilt, depression, sadness, anger, and shock. Cognitive effects include difficulty with decision-making, concentration, and memory processes (Reiser and Geiger, 1984; Mitchell, 1988). More distressing symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, vivid flashbacks to the event, difficulties relating to others, self-destructive or aggressive rages, and fear of losing control (Evans, 1991).
Police officers also have a high rate of stress related illness. Police officers experience higher rates of heart attacks and diabetes, and have increased mortality risk from cancer, particularly colon and liver cancers (Guralnick, 1963; Milham, 1976; Violanti, et al. 1986). Also, when compared with other groups, police officers have relatively high rates of suicide, alcoholism, and divorce (Terry, 1981; Diviner, et al. 1975; Heiman, 1975).
Much of the stress and the ability to handle it is determined by the police officers personality. American and Australian studies of police officers personality characteristics suggest that the majority of officers have a common sense approach to situations, are practical, and prefer a working environment that is routine, organized, and carefully regulated (Hanewicz, 1978). Researchers also have reported that police officers are typically suspicious, distant, cynical, and authoritarian (Balch, 1972; Radelet, 1973; Skolnick, 1973; Violanti and Marshall, 1983; Kroes, 1985). Stress can stem off of these personality traits because the police officer would be acting differently than every one around him or her.
The personality traits of cynicism, suspiciousness, and being distant are associated with the Type A behavior pattern (Rosenman, 1978; Jenkins, et al. 1979). Type A people typically see themselves as hard working, competitive, and intolerant of, and easily irritated by the actions of others. They like to rely on their own resources rather than working cooperatively, and they tend not to use available social supports (Rosenman, 1978; Diamond, 1982; Greenglass, 1988). Stress is more likely in Type A people because they try to handle the pressures of the job on their own, without any assistance.
Police officers grow very suspicious over the course of their careers. There is always the possibility of dangerous events occurring, which makes it necessary for officers to be alert to potential violence and danger. Right from the beginning with police training, the officers are taught to react automatically with care and suspicion (Kroes, 1985). Police officers also become distant, by emotionally detaching themselves from being unsympathetic to the people they come into contact with. Becoming distant may develop as a means of coping with stressful occupational activities (Besner and Robinson, 1982; Violanti and Marshall, 1983). Cynicism, which is being doubtful of human sincerity and goodness, is also a trait police officers? may develop. Authoritarianism develops from the police officers dominance and assertiveness, which are traits they display consistently given their job duties (Niederhoffer, 1967; Fabricatore, 1978). Numerous studies have suggested that many police officers develop these personality traits on the job as a means of coping with stressful aspects of their work (Hillgren and Bond, 1975; Besner and Robinson, 1982; Violanti and Marshall, 1983; Lawrence, 1984).
In a study done by Evans et al. (1992), it was hypothesized that officers with the greatest length of service would show less anxiety and greater incidence of Type A behaviors based on suspiciousness, hostility, and being distant, compared with officers with fewer years of service (Evans, et al. 1992). The study was designed to categorize the stressors of police work, officers coping strategies, measures of mood and psychological functioning, and health status (Coman, 1990).
This study confirmed that there are differences between the temperaments and behaviors of groups of police officers with different lengths of service. The differences were most obvious when the officers has served more than 12 years. These officers generally display Type A personality behaviors. The longer the officers were in service, the more distant, cynical, and suspicious they had become. As discussed earlier, this causes stress because the officers are relying solely on themselves for their sanity, they are not receiving any sort of comforting or reassurement to make the job a little easier and less stressful.
Police work is more stressful than practically all other occupations, due to the fact that the stress comes from the dangers and repeated encounters with violent people and victims of violence (Conroy and Hess, 1992; Fell, et al. 1980; Reiser and Geiger, 1984). Police officers have been said to suffer high rates of alcoholism, divorce, and suicide as a result of job stress (Heiman, 1975; Maslach and Jackson, 1981; Nelson and Smith, 1970).
A study done by Storch and Panzarella (1996) combined a standardized measure of stress with a questionnaire about job stressors, individual job and career variables, and personal variables. The most consistent among these stressors are organizational variables. Examples of organizational variables are personnel policies, relationships with superiors, and working conditions, as well as the public, media, and legal system. Organizational stressors in police work are lack of promotional opportunity and, actual promotion (Kroes, 1983). Data from the Storch and Panzarella (1996) study of police officers show the average levels of state anxiety and trait anxiety among police officers are not high (Kroes, 1983; Spielberger, 1983).
The survey was done anonymously; it was distributed through the police department?s in-house mailboxes. A stamped envelope addressed to the researcher was given to each officer, so when they finished filling it out, it could be mailed directly to the researchers. The results were based on the responses of seventy-nine officers. All of the officers who responded were male, and the average age was thirty-five. There was no difference between the stress measures in any of the three police departments, even though the economic statuses were very different. Out of the three police departments the general economic level of the first city being studied was considered depressed. The second city was described as generally middle income. The third city was middle to upper income people. Organizational factors, for example, bad bosses and administrators, poor work schedules and fellow officers were the key stressors in police work, as opposed to the dangerousness of the work (Storch and Panzarella, 1996). Storch and Panzarella found that even though police work includes moments of high stress, they want it to be made aware that these moments are rare. For the most part officers work their regular shifts without any traumatic or dramatic events occurring.
Stress in police work may be hard to measure. The perception of the officer may be an important factor that should be examined. Sigler et al. (1991) examined the perceptions of police officers compared to teachers in three communities. This was done in order to examine the differences in perceived occupational stress and for differences in the patterns of perceived job stress, perceived non-job stress, and both perceived job and life stressors.
There are a number of situations in police work that produce stress on the officers. Many police officers throughout their careers do not come into contact with any great deal of danger, but it is something they have to anticipate every time they answer a call. A major source of stress can come from the decisions they make, due to the fact that some are extremely critical, and the officer has little time for deliberation.
The administration and structure of police organizations has been found to be a primary source of stress for police officers. The stress-producing characteristics of police organizations include: 1) leaders, who are products of closed promotional systems, 2) limited mobility and promotional opportunity, 3) traditionally conservative administrative structures, 4) limited training, equipment, financial resources, and salaries, and 5) unclear policies for rewards, promotions, and career development (Kroes, et al, 1974).
Like police officers, teachers are expected to accomplish their tasks with limited resources (Hodge and Marker, 1978), and they receive, for the most part, low salaries (Grossnickle, 1980). The primary sources of stress for teachers include relationships with colleagues, administrative staff, clerical staff, and students (Hodge and Marker, 1978).
Sigler, et al. (1991) hypothesized that police officers experience higher level of stress than other occupational groups. This was tested by comparing police officers with another high stress occupational group, teachers. Sworn officers and administrators of police departments and the teachers and administrators of the high schools in three cities made up the sample population in this study. Questionnaires were administered to all of the members in each of the populations listed above by delivery to their place of employment. The teacher received them in their mailboxes, and the officers received them during roll call. The police department returned 190 of the 619 questionnaires, and 270 of the 957 were returned by the school (Sigler, et al. 1991).
The two groups differed on several demographic variables: age, education, sex, salary, and length of time employed in the field and in their current positions. For the total sample the relationships between job type and both perceived job stress and perceived life stress were not significant. The authors of this article found support through this survey that police experience higher levels of job stress than teachers do. Both are stressful jobs that should develop some sort of intervention and treatment, or develop coping skills for dealing with the factors that cause stress (Sigler, et al. 1991).
Officers often view their organization as non-supportive and unresponsive to employee needs. A few of the areas which cause distress within a department are the authoritarian structure, lack of participation in decisions affecting daily work tasks, lack of administrative support, a punishment centered philosophy, and unfair discipline (Kroes, 1986; Ellison and Genz, 1983; Reiser, 1974; Kelling and Pate, 1975). Violanti and Aron (1995) examined and ranked factors in police work, which may be perceived by officers as stressful. They examined the perceptions of stressors among various police ranks, time in service, age, and race (Violanti and Aron, 1995).
Stressors are factors in the police environment external to the officers and subjectively perceived as being bothersome or frustrating (Lazarus, 1981). There were two major stressors measured in the Police Stress Survey: 1) organizational and administrative factors and 2) inherent police work factors. Examples of the organizational factors include: court decisions restricting police, assignment of disagreeable duties, lack of recognition for good work, disagreeable department regulations, lack of participation in job decisions, and excessive inappropriate discipline. Examples that reflect inherent stressors include: responding to a felony in progress, high speed chases, dealing with crises, physical attack, and the death of injury of other officers (Violanti and Aron, 1995).
The survey by Violanti and Aron (1995) revealed that the highest ranked stressor was experiencing a fellow officer being killed, and killing someone in the line of duty. The effects of these two events are a heightened sense of danger after the event, anger, flashbacks, isolation, emotional numbing, sleep difficulties, and depression (Violanti and Aron, 1995). Another form of stress is organizational stress. The highest ranked organizational stressor was shift work. This is a source of stress because rotating shifts may affect sleep patterns, eating habits, family life, and psychological well being (Kroes and Hurrell, 1975; Davidson and Veno, 1980; Violanti, 1984). Following this was inadequate support, incompatible patrol partner, insufficient personnel, excessive discipline, and inadequate support of supervisors (Violanti and Aron, 1995).
Stress on a police officer due to shift work was also examined by Golembiewski and Kim. Police officers complain that it disrupts their family life and may also affect their job performance. Shift work entails four stress-related outcomes among police. The out comes include marital problems, suicide, alcoholism, and physical symptoms (Golembiewski and Kim).
Determining what causes stress in the work place is the first step in attempting to correct the problem. The police organizations can only benefit from trying to correct this problem. It may help avoid the negative psychological effects that stressors impact on workers health, morale, and productivity (Violanti and Aron, 1995).
Abernethy and Cox (1994) discussed why police officers lose their temper, and how to deal with stressful situations more efficiently. Anger, defined by Spielberger et al. (1985), is an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to fury and rage. Hostility is an attitude such as resentment and chronic anger that motivates aggressive behavior. Aggression is the destructive or punitive behaviors directed towards other people or objects (Abernethy and Cox, 1994). Two primary motivations for aggression: angry and instrumental instigation, are defined by Megargee (1985). Angry instigation involves the conscious or unconscious desire to hurt someone, while in instrumental instigation, aggression is used as a means to an end.
Abernethy and Cox (1994) conducted an experiment with the officers from the Rochester Police Department. The officers were assigned to the training or control groups. Several measures were tested including angry mood (McNair et al. 1971), angry state which assessed state and trait anger and three additional scales including anger-in, anger-out and anger expression. Also tested were performance variables, Anger Management Training Module, and there was a mental health course.
Treatment differences were found for the use of force arrests and angry mood. The experiment revealed that individuals who frequently experience anger and frustration tend to express their anger in aggressive behavior directed towards other people or objects. The officers reported that training from the Anger Management Training Module increased their awareness of anger. If this training module is developed further, it will provide research in anger management, performance, and health in law enforcement personnel (Abernethy and Cox, 1994).
Police officers in the field are not the only officers to experience stress. Executives of police agencies are also affected by stress and this was researched by Crank, et al. (1993). Crank, et al. (1993) investigated role-stress among executives of municipal and county police agencies. Role stress is the type of stress that derives from characteristics of occupational roles that promote the onset and maintenance of stress (Hall, 1992). The main concern of research into role stress is investigating the circumstances to perceptions of stress (Newton and Keenan, 1987).
Municipal and county police departments are very complex. Municipal chiefs are responsible for law enforcement as well as the maintenance of public order, the prevention of crime, and service in problems related to crime and victimization. Sheriffs provide countywide law enforcement and they may be responsible for county corrections and serve as officers of the court (Walker, 1991). Municipal chiefs, for the most part, are appointed officials. Sheriffs are elected every four years, and because of this they are not under the same day to day accountability as higher municipal administrators (Crank, et al. 1993).