Backing the Blue: Trauma in Law Enforcement Spouses and Couples

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Ashley L. Landers,Gina Dimitropoulos,Tai J. Mendenhall,Alison Kennedy,Lindsey Zemanek
• Date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12393

A L. LVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

G DUniversity of Calgary and Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research

and Education

T J. M, A K,  L ZUniversity of Minnesota

Backing the Blue: Trauma in Law Enforcement

Spouses and Couples

Objective: To explore the lived experiences

of secondary trauma among partners of law

enforcement professionals (LEPs).

Background: Stress is a common occurrence

for LEPs. Although research suggests that LEPs

are directly affected by trauma exposure, few

studies focus on the secondary trauma of part-

ners or spouses of LEPs.

Method: Utilizing transcendental phenomeno-

logical inquiry, in-depth qualitative interviews

were conducted with a purposeful sample of

eight spouses of law enforcement recruited from

community groups and police departments.

Results: The results revealed three overarching

themes of how participants experienced being

partnered with an LEP: (a) types of trauma

exposure, (b) the ripple impact of trauma, and

(c) strength of couples and how they cope with

trauma.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that spouses are

both affected by trauma and serve a support-

ive role to LEPs following trauma exposure.

Because secondary trauma can exacerbate

existing difculties in communication and emo-

tional intimacy within couples’ relationships, a

Department of Human Development and Family Science,

Marriage and Family Therapy Program, VirginiaTech, 7054

Haycock Road, Ofce 202C, Falls Church, VA, 22043

(land0552@vt.edu).

Key Words: couples, law enforcement, secondary trauma.

greater understanding of the impact of trauma

on law enforcement couples may lead to greater

resources to help support couples wherein one

individual is directly exposed to work-related

trauma.

Implications: Family professionals should pro-

mote healthy responses and coping among law

enforcement couples following exposure to trau-

matic events.

Stress is a common occurrence for law enforce-

ment professionals (LEPs) who experience

crime, violence, and life-threatening situations

as part of their daily work (Abdollahi, 2002;

Hartley, Violanti, Sarkisian, Andrew, & Burch-

el, 2012; Woody, 2006). When an LEP is

exposed to a traumatic event, time and space

constraints limit opportunities to process the

experience (Gershon, Barocas, Canton, Li, &

Vlahov, 2009). The resulting psychological

challenges may lter through to the LEP’s

family life, whose spouse must often manage

residual spillover from the work. Indeed, it is

not uncommon that traumatic stress can spill

over into the couple’s relationship, parenting,

and family life (Johnson, Todd, & Subramnian,

2005).

Although research suggests that LEPs are

directly affected by trauma exposure, fewstudies

focus on the inuence of trauma on law enforce-

ment (LE) spouses and couples (see Alexander

308Family Relations 69 (April 2020): 308–319

DOI:10.1111/fare.12393