| This study examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and level of job burnout among adult probation and parole officers in the United States, when controlling for gender, length of time on the job, and whether the probation and parole officer is office or field based. The focus of the study was identifying personality traits that were significantly predictive of probation officer burnout to ascertain if there was a primary personality trait associated with burnout. The study design was a non-experimental, correlational quantitative analysis utilizing hierarchical multiple regression to examine the relationship between the personality traits and burnout among a national sample population of adult probation and parole officers accessed from the American Probation and Parole Association. The sample included county, state, and federal level probation and parole officers and excluded supervisors, administrative officers, chiefs, and juvenile probation officers. Hypothesis testing indicated that Neuroticism was positively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion, Agreeableness was negatively correlated with Depersonalization and positively correlated with Personal Accomplishment, and Neuroticism was negatively associated with Personal Accomplishment. These findings are informative to the field of criminal justice and public safety because few studies have considered the inherent, individual level contributory factors on probation and parole officer burnout. |
