Police Officer Stress and Coping in a Stress-Awareness Era

• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/1098611120984162
• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Officer Stress

and Coping in a Stress-

Awareness Era

Kerry Lynne Edwards

1

,

Yvonne M. Eaton-Stull

1

, and

Sarah Kuehn

1

Abstract

This study was conducted as controversy and turmoil engulfed police worldwide.

Police-community conflict was widespread and conceivably increased officers’ stress

levels. Because stress affects officers’ health and job performance, it is important to

understand the phenomenon. This study was designed to ascertain officers’ stress

levels, coping mechanisms, and perspectives regarding police-community relations,

their perceived stress-related needs, and their perceptions of departmental assis-

tance. Participants (N ¼128) were police officers across several jurisdictions of

various sizes in the northeastern United States. Both quantitative and qualitative

data were collected; analytic methods included statistical correlations and regres-

sion, as well as qualitative, thematic analysis. Results indicated the following:

Participants experienced stress across multiple areas; some coping mechanisms

predicted higher expressions of stress, as did certain perspectives of police-

community relations and years in law enforcement. Participants’ perspectives of

their needs and their suggestions for action contributed to data-driven policy rec-

ommendations regarding both prevention and symptom reduction approaches.

Keywords

police officers, health and wellness, stress, coping, police-community relations

1

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock,

United States

Corresponding Author:

Kerry Lynne Edwards, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Slippery Rock University of

Pennsylvania, 211H Spotts World Culture Building, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, United States.

Email: kerry.edwards@sru.edu

Police Quarterly

2021, Vol. 24(3) 325–356

!The Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1098611120984162

journals.sagepub.com/home/pqx

Presently, there is a confluence of attention directed towards addressing police

officer stress and strained police-community relations which likely increase

stress (McCarty et al., 2019). This current study was conducted amid stop &

frisk controversy and nationwide ongoing court cases regarding controversial

police shootings in the United States; one of these shootings occurred just prior

to the data collection. The data collection timeline provided a unique opportu-

nity to explore officers’ experiences regarding stress related to community

attitudes.

Gradually, over the last 60 years, law enforcement administrators have grown

well aware that stress significantly impacts officers. Although Selye (1936) intro-

duced the concept of stress to academia considerably earlier, it was not until the

1950s that researchers began to rigorously explore stress in police work (e.g.,

Rankin, 1959). Still, it took several more decades to garner widespread atten-

tion. Violanti (2018) stated of the research trend and its importance, “It’s only

recently that we’ve become more aware of the mental strain placed on our police

officers in this country and it’s starting to take its toll” (Podcast-minute 01:45).

Studies have confirmed that officer stress is widespread (Collins & Gibbs,

2003; Scott, 2004). Research has offered links between officers’ stress and prob-

lems related to physical health (Kamble & Phalke, 2011; Violanti, 2014), mental

health (Bishopp et al., 2019; Chae & Boyle, 2013; Johnson & Jaeckle, 2018;

Santa Maria et al., 2018) and job performance (Bishopp et al., 2019; Manzoni

& Eisner, 2006; Shane, 2010). The breadth of these areas has prompted police

departments to approach the problem as both a health matter and an organi-

zational matter (see Hill & Giles, 2019). Interest in police officer occupational

stress initially focused on psychological distress from traumatic incidents but

has expanded to organizational factors (Toch, 2002), personality and resiliency

(Collins & Gibbs, 2003; Toch, 2002), and personal circumstances (Oliver &

Meier, 2004; Scott, 2004).

The dissemination of such research findings has resulted in ubiquitous officer

health-and-wellness guidelines generated by prominent organizations, such as

the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) (2020) and the

Fraternal Order of Police (2020), and in related standard operating procedures

and programs of large and small police departments, such as the Atlanta Police

Department (2017) and the Columbia Heights Police Department (2016). We,

the present study’s authors, perceive this current state of knowledge regarding

this issue and the resultant steps taken across the nation to address this problem

as the stress-awareness era.

Departmental response to officer stress is dependent on the assessment of

both the origins of stress (operational and organizational stressors) and possible

interventions, such as aiding resiliency or eliminating stressors. Operational

stressors are primarily those that happen in the field, such as responding to

calls for help, officer-involved shootings, etc. Organizational stressors are

those that fall under the purview of management discretion and decision

326 Police Quarterly 24(3)

making, such as work schedules, tools and resources, etc. However, researchers

have varied in the demarcation of these items and choice of focal areas. Ma et al.

(2015) found that although police officers working particular shifts encountered

more physical and psychological threat events in the field, they also reported

more events related to organizational stress. They noted, “Because physical/

psychological threats are an inherent part of police work, there is relatively

little that can be done to reduce their occurrence in the police workforce.

However, it may be possible to reduce or eliminate many of the administrative

and organizational stressors within a police department” (Ma et al., 2015, p. 28).

Thus, the issue of stressor classification is laden with possible implications—

methods to control stress and avenues for change.

The health-and-wellness approach for officers has focused on addressing

field-based trauma, prioritizing psychological intervention and the reduction

of stress symptoms through officers’ stress management measures. More recent-

ly, departments and research partners have engaged in earlier stress manage-

ment education at the training academy level (Arnetz et al., 2013; Johnson &

Jaeckle, 2018). Additionally, the content of stress management training has

expanded. The training that had largely focused on nutrition, exercising, social-

izing, getting adequate sleep, taking vacation days, etc. (Agolla, 2008; Beshears,

2017) has incorporated strategies that are relatively new to mainstream dis-

course, such as resiliency and mindfulness (Christopher et al., 2018; Toch, 2002).

We began this research project after noticing that police officer health-and-

wellness models advocated by police-oriented organizations and implemented

by police departments had seemingly reached a plateau in design, which

appeared reactive to stress rather than preemptive of stressors. This reactive

approach allows the opportunity for strain to take place—the presence of

unwelcome, unpleasant stimuli (Agnew, 1992). Additionally, these health-and-

wellness actions were presented as counters against traumatic stressors, thereby

neglecting everyday stressors, some of which may be avoidable. This not only

posed an ethical quandary regarding whether there should be efforts to prevent

all stressors as practicable, but this also was problematic because some research

has suggested that officer stress affects interactions (Bishopp et al., 2019) and

police-community relations have been negatively impacted due to problematic

interactions; in this sequence, negative police-community relations can be out-

puts of strain. Thus, it seems paramount that officers have the best possible

emotional demeanor when they enter an interaction with a community member,

bringing less stress into the situation. The following question describes our

broad interests: In light of the present stress-awareness era and state of

health-and-wellness approaches, how stressed are officers, in what ways, and

how do these conditions fit within the organizational structure and community

relations environments? This study used mixed methods, quantitative analysis

and qualitative thematic analysis, to explore officers’ stress and coping experi-

ences, jurisdictional size, the factor of police-community relations, and the

Edwards et al. 327