Individual and Environmental Sources of Work Stress Among Prison Officers

Abstract

Work stress has been linked to a number of negative outcomes for employees and organizations. Drawing from the Job Demand–Control (–Support) model, we examined the influences of work stress among more than 1,800 prison officers working in 45 prisons across Ohio and Kentucky. Multilevel analyses revealed that individual factors such as experiencing victimization and greater job demands were related to more stress among prison officers, whereas perceived control over inmates and support from coworkers and supervisors were associated with less stress. Facility violence was also linked to higher levels of officer stress across prisons.