The Impact of Social Support and Occupational Stress on Burnout in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service

• Author: Hyunin Baek,Sungil Han,Randy Seepersad
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111211036007
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Impact of

Social Support and

Occupational Stress

on Burnout in the

Trinidad and Tobago

Police Service

Hyunin Baek

1

, Sungil Han

2

, and

Randy Seepersad

3

Abstract

Police officers experience very stressful working environments which may lead to a

range of negative outcomes including burnout. Police officers in Caribbean countries

are no exception as they face demanding work conditions. Despite this, studies have

paid little attention to Caribbean policing. Using data from the eight police divisions

in Trinidad (N¼331 police officers), this study examined the relationship among

social support (supervisor, co-worker, and family), occupational stress (organization-

al and operational) and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and per-

sonal accomplishment). Path analysis was used to test the hypothesis that social

support served to reduce occupational stress, which in turn led to reduced burnout.

The results suggested that supervisor support reduced organizational stress, while

co-worker and family support reduced operational stress. Organizational stress, in

turn affected emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment, while operational

stress affected emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

1

Department of Criminal Justice, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States

2

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, United States

3

Criminology Department, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago

Corresponding Author:

Sungil Han, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 348 Rougeou Hall, Lafayette, LA 70508, United States.

Email: sungil.han@louisiana.edu

Police Quarterly

!The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10986111211036007

journals.sagepub.com/home/pqx

2022, Vol. 25(3) 310–337

Baek et al. 311

Keywords

social support, organizational stress, operational stress, burnout, policing

Introduction

Policing is widely known as one of the most stressful occupations as a result of

dangerous working environments and overwhelming workloads (Crank &

Caldero, 1991; Zhao et al., 2002). For instance, traumatic events, shift work,

overtime work, excessive administrative duties, changes in policies, and staff

shortages are causes of stress among officers (Noblet et al., 2009; Shane,

2013; Violanti & Aron, 1994; Violanti et al., 2017). Occupational stress from

various sources is closely associated with job burnout which manifests itself in

the form of high levels of job cynicism and high rates of turnover (Kop et al.,

1999; McCarty et al., 2007; Mostert & Rothmann, 2006). Burnout is a psycho-

logical consequence of prolonged exposure to chronic work stress (Maslach &

Leiter, 2016; World Health Organization [WHO], 2019). The WHO (2019) has

defined burnout as including three characteristics: feelings of energy depletion or

exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism,

and reduced professional efficacy.

Police officers in Caribbean countries typically suffer from excessively high

stress levels because of high crime rates, excessive administrative duties, and lack

of resources (Superville, 2018). Issues in the Caribbean such as gang violence,

drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human trafficking, and a homicide rate that is

three times higher than the global average may also contribute to officers’ stress

(Seepersad & Bissessar, 2013). In addition to high rates of crime in Caribbean

nations, excessive administrative duties, frequent changes in policies coupled

with the unclear nature of policy, staff shortages, and increased demands for

safety from the public could have an impact on stress levels among officers

(Noblet et al., 2009; Shane, 2013; United Nations Development Program

[UNDP], 2012). Furthermore, police in Caribbean countries are challenged by

low levels of public support (Baek et al., 2020). According to the World Values

Survey Association (2015), less than a quarter of the residents in Trinidad and

Tobago indicated that they have confidence in the police. These low levels of

social support coupled with little administrative and organizational support may

serve to maximize the effects of stress (Kula, 2017; Zeng et al., 2020).

Conversely, support from various sources may help officers to manage occupa-

tional stress, resulting in a lower likelihood of burnout at work (Mansour &

Tremblay, 2016; Purba & Demou, 2019).

The findings above suggest that police officers in Trinidad and Tobago expe-

rience high levels of stress in the performance of their duties, potentially result-

ing in burnout at work. Thus, in an effort to provide suggestions for reducing