Profiles of U.S. Law Enforcement Officers’ Physical, Psychological, and Behavioral Health: Results From a Nationally Representative Survey of Officers

• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/1098611121991111
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Profiles of U.S. Law

Enforcement Officers’

Physical, Psychological,

and Behavioral

Health: Results

From a Nationally

Representative

Survey of Officers

Elizabeth A. Mumford

1

,

Weiwei Liu

1

, and Bruce G. Taylor

1

Abstract

Law enforcement officers’ health and wellness is important at the individual and

community levels in terms of maintaining a fit workforce to uphold the mission of

public safety. The current study was designed to assess officer wellness across the

U.S. From a nationally representative random sample of 1,135 local and state agen-

cies, a random, probability-based sample of officers was selected, oversampling for

female officers. Latent class analyses were conducted to assess wellness profiles

based on a set of eleven physical, psychological, and behavioral health indicators

for 2,232 officers. Personal and professional characteristics were included as auxil-

iary variables in models of the resulting classes. Results from this sample indicated

that over two-thirds of officers fit a healthy profile, whereas one in four officers

presents with moderate health concerns and nearly 6% are classified in a profile of

broad health concerns. In this sample, sexual assault in childhood, greater exposure

to critical incidents, working a current rotation schedule, and being female were

1

Department of Public Health, NORC at the University of Chicago, Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Corresponding Author:

Elizabeth A. Mumford, NORC at the University of Chicago, 4350 East-WestHighway, 8th Floor, Bethesda,

MD 20814, United States.

Email: mumford-elizabeth@norc.org

Police Quarterly

2021, Vol. 24(3) 357–381

!The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1098611121991111

journals.sagepub.com/home/pqx

characteristics associated with broad health concerns. Emotional and/or physical

assault in childhood, greater exposure to critical incidents, and being female were

characteristics associated with moderate health concerns, whereas older age and

being Hispanic were protective factors. In sum, full-time sworn law enforcement

officers across the U.S. are reasonably healthy but their exposures to stressful

situations put them at increased risk particularly in terms of post-traumatic stress,

risky drinking, and suicidality. These results are important for agency administrators

and policymakers to consider in terms of wellness programs, prevention efforts and

budget allocations.

Keywords

police health, police wellness, nationally representative

Law enforcement as a profession is characterized by operational risk and orga-

nizational stressors to officers’ safety and health, relevant to individual perfor-

mance (Abdollahi, 2002) as well as to the recruitment, hiring, training, and

retention of officers (U.S. Department of Justice, 2020). The daily risks

during routine operations, plus risks associated with major natural or man-

made disasters, are recognized to have an impact on officer mental health and

behavioral outcomes in the short and long-term (Regehr et al., 2019; Velazquez

& Hernandez, 2019). A recent systematic review suggests that police officers’

exposure to occupational health hazards often arise from accidents, chemicals,

needle sticks, unacceptable noise levels, air pollutants, and the muscular chal-

lenges of extended periods of driving and/or lifting heavy objects, as well as

critical incidents such as exposure to an abused child or being trapped in a life

threatening situation (Mona et al., 2019). Compounding direct exposures to

occupational risks, officers also face secondary trauma risks through their pro-

vision of support to community members and peers (Greinacher et al., 2019).

Moreover, officers face these occupational hazards in the context of unique

organizational stressors, such as rotating shifts, chain of command management

environment, and cultural stigmas regarding mental health supports (Purba &

Demou, 2019). Parallel to documentation of the hazards of working in law

enforcement, there is a growing body of research examining officer wellness

outcomes.

Wellness Indicators

While law enforcement officers have been shown to have poor outcomes relative

to the general population on a number of psychological and behavioral health

358 Police Quarterly 24(3)