Dimensions of perceived stress in a British police force

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Abstract
70% of a sample of Constables, Sergeants and Inspectors from a large provincial British police force reported regularly feeling stressed. Officers rated the stressfulness of 24 occupations (including police officer), 23 police role and organizational Stressors (e.g. poor shift patterns), and 20 typical policing tasks (e.g. dealing with sudden death). Factor analyses identified the dimensions underlying each set. A number of policing tasks (e.g. dealing with the mentally ill) loaded on more than one factor, suggesting they bear more than one type of Stressor for the attending officer. Variations of factor scores with officers’ sex, rank, age and length of service suggest differential demographic susceptibility to different dimensions of stress. Multiple regression indicated that, for Constables, reported frequency of feeling stressed covaried with four factors, interpreted as: dealing with ‘people not like us’, (e.g. drug users and suppliers, external agencies); feeling ‘under attack’ (e.g. from verbal aggression, police discipline and complaints procedures); assuming ‘emergency responsibilities’ for others; and not having a ‘well‐defined work environment’.

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