Emotional intelligence, negative mood regulation expectancies, and professional burnout among police officers

The purpose of the current study was to explore the potential of emotional and social competencies to predict job burnout in a sample of 50 municipal police officers from the Northeastern United States. Participants were administered 3 self-report questionnaires. Emotional intelligence (EI) was measured with the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), which is based on a 1-5-15 structural model that defines El as a group of related social and emotional competencies involved in the ability to effectively cope with environmental demands (Bar-On, 1997). The Generalized Expectancies for Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) Scale, was employed to assess beliefs about one's ability to alleviate negative moods (Catanzaro & Mearns, 1990). Burnout was measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), which yields scores for 3 separate components of burnout: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and sense of personal accomplishment (PA) (Maslach & Jackson, 1996). Regression analyses supported the main hypothesis, which predicted an inverse relationship between El and burnout. Also, as expected, NMR was inversely related to burnout. EQ-i and NMR Scale total scores, combined, accounted for approximately 25% of the variance in EE (p = .001) and 40% of the variance in PA (p = .000). Finally, results supported the prediction of a positive relationship between El and NMR (r = .40, p < .01). Implications for selection, training, and the development of an “emotionally intelligent” organizational climate are discussed.