The connection of police strategies for coping with workplace problems to stress in two countries

Abstract

This research examined the direct effects of coping strategies on stress and the moderating effects of coping strategies on the associations between workplace problems experienced by police and stress in South Korea and the United States. Data revealed that coping strategies did not change the strength of connections between workplace problems and stress. Especially in the United States, the use of escape as a coping strategy was related to high stress. Findings were most consistent with the use of organizational-level interventions to increase police officers' job control and advancement opportunities, and pointed to the need to consider support as a way to limit stress.

Keywords:

• police
• stress, workplace problems
• coping
• comparative, Korea
• United States

Notes

1. Social coping is to rely on social relationships with other people (Greenglass, 1993; see also Stephens & Long, 2000); defensive coping style includes strategies like keeping written records, avoidance, or seeking formal action.

2. Escape was defined as suffering in silence, ignoring the situation, living with the situation, and avoiding superiors or co-workers (Morash & Haarr, 1995).

3. Problem-focused coping involves attempts to alter or manage the stressful situation; emotion-focused coping includes efforts to regulate emotions experienced because of the stressful event (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

4. The 11 departments that participated in the research included three that were quite large – an East Coast department that served a population of over 1.5 million, a Southwest department that served a population of about 500,000, and a Midwest department that served a population of just under 400,000. Departments that served medium-sized areas, ranging from 130,000 to 340,000 people, were in rural/small city/suburban areas of Maryland, North Carolina (two), Iowa, and California. Departments serving populations under 100,000 were in Georgia, Oregon, and Florida (Morash, Kwak, & Harr, 2006).

5. Chungbuk Province has no unique features in terms of community disorganization or immigrant concentration compared to other provinces.

6. The group included three professors in criminal justice (two from the United States and one from South Korea) and four native Korean-speaking PhD students studying criminal justice in the United States.

7. Due to multicollinearity between officer's age and rank, age is not included in the analyses.