Occupational Stressors, Individual Strains, and Social Supports among Police Officers

Abstract

In a survey of 121 police officers of a Midwestern state, it was found that occupational stressors (under-utilization of skills, quantitative workload, and job future ambiguity) and several types of social support are related to individual psychological strain. An interaction between occupational stressors and instrumental social support was opposite from the predictions of the buffering hypothesis, and explanations are offered for this "reverse buffering" result. Additionally, police in supervisory positions experience less stress and more social support than do nonsupervisory police officers.