Occupational Stress, Coping and Personality in the Police: An SEM Study
| DOI | 10.1350/ijps.2007.9.1.36 |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Occupational stress, coping and
personality in the police: an SEM study
Adriana Ortega,* Sten-Olof Brenner†and Phil Leather‡
*(Corresponding author) National Institute of Occupational Health. Lersø Parkálle 105 2100
Copenhagen Ø. Tel: (+45) 39 16 53 17; fax. (+45) 39 16 52 01; e-mail: aor@ami.dk
†Högskolan Kristianstad, SE 291 88 Kristianstad, Sweden. Tel: 044-203214; email:
sten-olof.brenner@bet.hkr.se
‡School of Institute of Work Health and Organisations, Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and
Education, 8 William Lee Buildings, Nottingham Science and Technology Park, University
Boulevard, NG7 2RQ. Tel: 0115 846 6638; Fax: 0115 846 6625; Email:
phil.leather@nottingham.ac.uk
Received 12 October 2005; revised and accepted 1 March 2006
Keywords: coping, personality, occupational stress, SEM
Adriana Ortega
, BA, MSc, PhD candidate at the
University of Nottingham, UK, is currently work-
ing as a researcher at the Danish National Insti-
tute of Occupational Health in Copenhagen. Her
research interest includes occupational stress
and copying, bullying, harassment, organisa-
tional culture and diversity at work. Adriana’s
PhD work explores bullying and harassment as a
source of occupational stress among police offi-
cers and support staff; examining the role of
personality traits, gender, coping strategies and
social support in the occupational stress
and well-being relationship.
Sten-Olof Brenner
, PhD and Reader in Psy-
chology at Gothenburg University, Sweden,
is currently professor in Work Psychology at
Kristianstad University, Sweden. His main
research interest is in systems approaches to the
relationships between demographic and organi-
sational characteristics and stress outcomes,
basing his research on flow theory and inter-
active stress theory, collecting data with ques-
tionnaire and experience sampling methods, and
analysing relationships with SEM and multi-
level techniques. In this research he is collabo-
rating with researchers from Sweden, Denmark
and UK.
Phil Leather
, PhD and Reader in Occupational
Psychology at the Institute of Work, Health and
Organisations, University of Nottingham, UK, is a
Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Asso-
ciate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Phil’s current research interests include the man-
agement and control of work-related violence,
the environmental psychology of the workplace
and the way in which individual cognition, affect,
well-being and behaviour are influenced by
design characteristics of the physical environ-
ments which we typically experience.
A
BSTRACT
This article explores the relationships among
exogenous factors, such as gender, age, rank/
grade, tenure and personality, occupational stress,
coping strategies, well-being, organisational com-
mitment and job satisfaction. The sample used for
this study comprised 1,535 police officers from a
British police force, 20.78 per cent of whom were
female. It was expected that personality, gender,
age, rank and tenure were associated with work-
related stress; coping; well-being, and work atti-
tudes. More specifically, it was predicted: (1) that
there was a correlation among personality, well-
being and work attitudes; and (2) that coping
Page 36
International Journal of Police
Science and Management,
Vol. 9 No. 1, 2007, pp. 36–50.
© Vathek Publishing,
1461–3557
International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 9 Number 1
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