Sex Differences in Coping Strategies and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Taiwanese Police Officers

• Published date: 01 February 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241291026
• Author: Doris C. Chu
• Date: 01 February 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2025, Vol. 52, No. 2, February 2025, 233 –253.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241291026

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© 2024 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

233

SEX DIFFERENCES IN COPING STRATEGIES

AND WELL-BEING DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC AMONG TAIWANESE

POLICE OFFICERS

DORIS C. CHU

Northumbria University

This study compares Taiwanese male and female police officers’ work stress and coping strategies during the COVID-19

pandemic. Data derived from 1,329 male and 225 female police officers between May and July 2021, during the COVID-19

pandemic. It was found that male officers experienced more family-work stress than their female colleagues. Male officers

were more likely to engage in avoidance coping and used humor to cope with stress. On the contrary, female officers were

more inclined to adopt emotion regulation strategies and distraction to cope with stress. Supervisor support was found to be

positively associated with officers’ well-being and negatively connected with officers’ stress. Humor and self-distraction were

found to be positively associated with officers’ well-being, whereas avoidance and negative stressor appraisal of COVID-19

were negatively connected with well-being. Policy implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: mental health; COVID-19 pandemic; coping; Taiwan police; stress

Policing is generally seen as one of the most stressful occupations (Siu et al., 2015; Toch,

2002; Varker et al., 2023). In their line of work, police are often exposed to dangerous

and traumatic incidents (Andersen et al., 2015; Arble et al., 2018). Their work includes

handling traffic accidents and domestic violence cases, investigating crime scenes, and

working with traumatized victims (Arble et al., 2018; Gutschmidt & Vera, 2022; Huey &

Kalyal, 2017). And during health emergencies, police serve as first line responders, assum-

ing expanded responsibility of working with public health officials to contain the spread, of

some virus and to enforce relevant mandates (Jennings & Perez, 2020).

Since the beginning of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic posted unprecedented challenges

to first line responders around the world. As an important group among the first responders

during the pandemic, police had to face unpredictable circumstances and possibilities of

AUTHORS’ NOTE: I would like to express my gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and editors for their

constructive comments that significantly enhanced the manuscript. I also thank the officers who participated in

the surveys and Miss Yu-Ru Zheng for her assistance in data entry. Correspondence concerning this article

should be addressed to Doris C. Chu, Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon

Tyne NE1 8ST, UK; e-mail: doris.chu@northumbria.ac.uk.

1291026CJBXXX10.1177/00938548241291026Criminal Justice and BehaviorChu /

research-article2024

234 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

contracting the virus. Some studies have examined factors that affect police officers’ well-

being and stress during the pandemic, but very few studies focus on sex-differences in cop-

ing strategies and mental health. Also lacking is an understanding of whether certain coping

strategies, in a traumatic time, are more effective in reducing work-related stress and

enhancing different dimensions of officers’ well-being. Frenkel and colleagues (2021) have

highlighted the importance of understanding officers’ stress experiences and coping

resources in such times. Stogner and colleagues (2020) recommended that future research

examine sources of stressor as well as healthy and unhealthy coping to allow for prepared-

ness of proper resources for reducing officers’ stress during health crises. Clifton and col-

leagues (2018) also noted that understanding how male and female officers cope with stress

is vital because some ineffective coping strategies may be associated with compromised

mental health.

Studies have shown that women police may experience types of stress that are different

from those of their male colleagues (Hassell et al., 2011). Bonner and Brimhall (2022) sug-

gested that future study should consider examining whether male and female officers vary

in their perceptions of stressors. To date, only a few studies focus on sex-based differences

in perceived stress and coping strategies among police officers (e.g., Bonner and Brimhall,

2022). To the author’s best knowledge, none of these have explored such topic during the

COVID-19 pandemic. To bridge the gap in literature, this study examines male and female

police officers’ well-being and coping strategies in Taiwan during COVID-19 pandemic.

Taiwan police played a crucial role in pandemic prevention and control. Their extra

duties have included enforcing mandatory mask policy, maintaining security for quaran-

tine facilities, check-ins on arrival of foreign travelers, assisting them during their quaran-

tine, using technology to trace contacts between those in mandatory quarantine and

isolation, and investigating malicious spread of disinformation. In addition to performing

existing preventive and control duties, police frequently conducted random inspections on

entertainment venues that may pose greater risk of infections (National Police Agency

[NPA], 2021a).

There are several purposes in this study. First, it aims to explore whether male and female

officers differed in various aspects of mental health during the virus outbreak. Second, it

assesses whether organization-related factors identified in past studies, such as police iden-

tity and supervisor support, affected officers’ well-being during the pandemic. Third, it

examines whether male and female officers used different strategies to cope with stress

during that time. Fourth, it investigates whether different coping strategies yielded different

effects on officers’ mental health. The findings of this study can help police administrations

develop gender-sensitive training programs to enhance coping skills and to enable them to

deal with future health emergencies or other crises.

LITERATURE REVIEW

GENERAL STRESSORS ENCOUNTERED BY POLICE AND RELEVANT COPING

Studies show some factors (e.g., organization-related factors) may affect officers’ stress.

Supervisors can directly impact the well-being of employees, especially in such issues of

work-family conflict, stress, job satisfaction and turnover intent (Hämmig, 2017). Social

exchange theory posits that good supervisors can create positive interactions with their

subordinates, leading to beneficial behavior for the whole organization (Brunetto et al., 2017;