Law enforcement officers' perception of their stressors and coping styles and the effect on the family unit

The purpose of the study was to examine law enforcement officers' perception of stress as associated with their marital status and officer rank. The data was archival and made available by The National Police Suicide Foundation. The survey was composed of possible situations that officers might encounter that may lead to stress. One measure was labeled Personal Impact and the other Administration Stress. Marital status, the multivariate and univariate results indicated that the officers whose marital status was separated showed greater stress as measured by the personal impact scale than those officers that were in relationships and those officers that were married. No differences were found associated with administrative stress associated with marital status. The results of this analysis indicated on the administrative stress measure, the overall group showed slightly higher levels of stress with the divorced officers showing the highest level. Although, it is important to note that on the scale of 0 to 10 the stress levels were relatively low on both measures. Additionally, as measured by the survey, no differences were found between law enforcement ranks on personal impact and administrative stress.