Police stress & alcohol abuse.

摘要

Police work is unlike any other job in the world. Environmentally, the work is exciting and boring, challenging and tedious, rewarding and frustrating, unpredictable and routine. Organizationally, officers may have to contend with rigid command structures, unreasonable policies and procedures, and inequitable treatment by superiors. With a job description such as this, it is understandable that police officers often experience a great deal of job related stress. Some researchers consider police work to be one of the most stressful occupations. While there are numerous ways in which individual officers may deal with job related stress, many turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism.;This study examined how organizational, external, and overall police stress changed as an officer progressed through one of four career stages. The relationship between stress levels and various coping techniques, including alcohol use were also examined. Survey data was collected from a sample of 686 Massachusetts police officers. Outcomes indicated that overall police stress increased during the first three career stage and declined during the last career stage. Organizational sources of stress were significantly higher than external stress during the first three career stages. Significant differences between the two stress types disappeared during the final career stage. Twenty-three percent of the survey participants had overall alcohol screen scores that were characteristic of alcohol dependence. Seventy-eight percent of the respondents had scores that indicated they were prone to hazardous drinking behaviors. Officers within their early career stage were more likely to report problematic drinking behaviors than officers in later career stages. Study outcomes demonstrate a need for police administrators to acknowledge and address both sources of police stress. The findings of this study also underscore the need for police administrators to be conscious of the level of problematic drinking occurring in the law enforcement community.