Recognizing that stress is a significant problem in law enforcement and following the pattern set by other researchers in analyzing general stress, this research developed a Critical Professional Life Events Scale for law enforcement. As a result of an open-ended questionnaire distributed to selected law enforcement officers, and following review by a panel of academic and law enforcement personnel, 144 events were identified as stressful in the professional life of a police officer. Many of these were commonly experienced, including court appearances, "writing a routine report," "making a routine traffic stop," "making a routine arrest," "work on a holiday," and "changing work shifts." Less common events identified as stressful included "violent death of a partner in the line of duty," "dismissal," "murder committed by a police officer," "taking a life in the line of duty," and "suicide of an officer who is a close friend." Many of the events, particularly those concerned with violence and with personnel and administrative issues, were suggested as stressful by a considerable number of preliminary questionnaire respondents. / Ordered through the use of a table of random numbers and placed in questionnaire format, these 144 events were evaluated on a scale of 1 to 100 by 378 law enforcement officers attending the FBI National Academy. The overall geometric mean of the individual estimations of the magnitude of each event determined the ultimate ranking and value assigned the event on the Law Enforcement Critical Life Events Scale. Final scale values ran from a high of 88 for the most stressful event, "Violent death of a partner in the line of duty," to a low of 13 for the least stressful, "Completion of a routine report." / The twenty-five events reflecting the highest level of stress, and consequently requiring the greatest amount of readjustment, were related to violence, personnal issues, and ethical concerns. The twenty-five least stressful, i.e., those requiring the least amount of readjustment after the event, were predominantly concerned with community relations, legal/judicial, administrative, and operational issues, many of which are routine events experienced on a regular basis by a majority of law enforcement officers. / The value of the study lies in its practical and research implications. On a practical level, it can allow for better analysis, prediction, and control of stress within police agencies and can foster improved preparatory training for coping with job-related stress. On a research level, the study can act as a springboard for more in-depth analysis of differing individual responses to the unique stressors of law enforcement and, with increased sophistication, can increase the understanding of the problem of police stress. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-12, Section: A, page: 5251. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74367 |
| Contributors | SEWELL, JAMES DAVID., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 193 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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