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Burnout Among Norwegian Police Officers:Potential Antecedents and Consequences

Ronald J. BurkeYork University

Aslaug MikkelsenStavanger University College

This investigation examined potential antecedents and consequences of burn-out in a large sample of Norwegian police officers. Data were collected viaanonymously completed questionnaires. Three burnout components consid-ered were emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and low professional efficacy.Work demands emerged in hierarchical regression analyses as the strongestpredictor of each burnout component. With the burnout components aspredictors, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that burnout compo-nents had significant relationships with a variety of outcomes (work, workfamily, psychological health, physical health). Work demands, however, hada stronger relationship with both work and workfamily outcomes than didthe burnout components, the latter having the strongest relationship withindicators of psychological health. Emotional exhaustion had significant andindependent relationships with most of the outcome measures.Keywords: burnout, stress, well-being, police officers

Police work is generally viewed as a stressful, demanding occupationexposing officers to potentially violent and threatening situations (Kroes,1988; Toch, 2002; Violanti & Paton, 1999). As a reflection of this view,hundreds of studies have been conducted on work stressors in policing (seeAbdollahi, 2002, for a partial review).

Ronald J. Burke, Department of Organizational Behavior, Schulich School of Business,York University; Aslaug Mikkelsen, Department of Social Science, Stavanger UniversityCollege, Stavanger, Norway.

Preparation of this article was supported in part by the Rogaland Institute, Stavanger,Norway; and the School of Business, York University. We acknowledge the support of thepolice union in conducting the study and collecting the data. Lisa Fiksenbaum assisted with dataanalysis.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ronald J. Burke, Depart-ment of Organizational Behavior, Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 KeeleStreet, North York ONT M3J 1P3, Canada. E-mail: ronald [email protected]

International Journal of Stress Management Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association2006, Vol. 13, No. 1, 6483 1072-5245/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/1072-5245.13.1.64

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Police stressors typically have been placed into three categories: per-sonal, occupational, and organizational (Hart, Wearing, & Headey, 1995).Personal stressors refer to stable aspects of personality (e.g., authoritarianism,Type A behavior) that may exacerbate the stressorhealth relationship.Occupational stressors encompass those demands that are part of the jobitself, such as dealing with victims and perpetrators of crime, interacting withthe justice system, and doing shift work. Organizational stressors encompassinteractions with police leadership, lack of support, bureaucratic red tape, andlack of career advancement opportunities. There is evidence among policeofficers of a link between the experience of workplace stressors and dissat-isfaction and negative health outcomes (Adbollahi, 2002). In addition, orga-nizational stressors both are the most common and have the strongestassociation with dissatisfaction and psychological distress.

A related and large body of research on work and health has focused onthe concept of burnout (Shirom, 1989, 2002). It is somewhat surprising thatburnout research rarely has been conducted with police samples (Schaufeli &Enzmann, 1998). A review of this body of work shows findings consistentwith those reported in nonpolice samples and extends this work to new areasreflecting the unique aspects of policing (Alexander, 1999; Golembiewski,Sun, Lin, & Boudreau, 1995; Goodman, 1990; Jackson & Maslach, 1982;Maslach & Jackson, 1981).

Police officers represent an interesting occupation in which to examineburnout, as they have been found to report higher levels of cynicism andreduced personal accomplishment than do members of other occupations(Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). High levels of cynicism may reflect policeofficers occupational socialization coupled with the nature of their job androle in society. In addition, police officers score lower on exhaustion than domembers of other occupations. Policing is also an occupation that providesfew successes, little positive feedback, difficult and upsetting interpersonalcontact with members of the general public, considerable red tape andbureaucracy, unmet expectations, the need to manage ones emotions, andauthoritarian or paramilitary supervision (Kroes, 1988; Toch, 2002).

Burnout is typically seen as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, cynicism,and reduced personal efficacy (Maslach, 1982; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter,2001). Burnout refers to a process in which the individuals attitudes andbehaviors change in negative ways in response to job stressors. It is a process ofprogressive disillusionmenta loss of energy, idealism, and enthusiasm (Leiter& Maslach, 1998; Schaufeli, Maslach, & Marek, 1993). The Exhaustion Scalemeasures the depletion of emotional energy. Cynicism reflects indifference or adistant attitude toward ones work and professional efficacy and includes bothsocial and nonsocial aspects of accomplishments at work. In addition, worksetting and organizational conditions have been found to be more significant

65Burnout in Norwegian Police Officers

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predictors of burnout than personal demographic and personality factors (Burke& Richardsen, 2001; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998).

Although a comprehensive theoretical framework for burnout has not yet beendeveloped, the organizational context has been identified as a key factor. That is, anunfavorable work environment leads to stress and, depending on the effectiveness ofcoping approaches, culminates in burnout and reduced accomplishment.

Kop and Euwema (2001) found a positive relationship between levels ofburnout of Dutch police officers and a positive attitude toward the use offorce, self-reported use of force, and the independently observed use of force.Why should burnout be related to positive attitudes toward the use of force?First, the threshold for exhibiting violent behavior toward the public islowered when officers view the public as impersonal objects instead ofpeople. Second, when officers are exhausted, they more likely feel incom-petent and engage in poor problem solving; also, they may be less likely touse social skills and more likely to use force. Kop, Euwema, and Schaufeli(1999), using the same sample, reported that burnout was associated with alack of reciprocity between investments and outcomes in the relations thatofficers had with the public, work colleagues, and their organization.

In a large sample of Canadian police officers, Burke (1988) reported thatworkfamily conflict was associated with levels of burnout. Additionallyassociated with burnout were antecedents such as work setting characteris-tics, lack of social support, both work and nonwork stressors, and outcomes,including psychosomatic symptoms, negative feeling states, intention to quit,and self-reported physical health.

By contrast, Schaufeli and Buunk (2003) reported that police officers inthe Netherlands had relatively low levels of clinical burnout (about 1%)compared with people in other occupations. This low level likely reflects thefact that in the Netherlands police officers are screened psychologically, withindividuals scoring high on neuroticism excluded. Police officers score lowon exhaustion, high on depersonalization (cynicism), and low on personalaccomplishment (see Kop & Euwema, 2001).

Continuing this line of research on burnout among police officers, thepresent study has two research objectives and one practical objective. Thefirst objective is to empirically determine predictors of the three burnoutcomponents among police officers in Norway, the second is to ascertain therole burnout plays in predicting a variety of work and psychological healthoutcomes in this population, and the third, given the findings that emerge, isto offer practical interventions for police management interested in buildinga healthy organization.

We developed two research models to guide selection of variables to beincluded in the study as well as data analysis (see Figures 1 and 2). In the firstmodel, an examination of potential predictors of burnout components, fourblocks of predictors were included: personal demographics (e.g., age, gender,

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marital and parental status), work situation characteristics (e.g., size of force,level of position), job demands (e.g., cognitive, emotional), and coping andsocial resources (e.g., social support). In the second model, an examination ofthe effects of burnout on work and health outcomes, the burnout componentswere added as a fifth block of predictors following the four blocks discussedin regard to Figure 1. The relationship of these blocks of predictors with workoutcomes (e.g., job satisfaction) and health outcomes (e.g., psychosomaticsymptoms) was then determined. Previous research has found that burnoutwas predictive of these consequences (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998).

METHOD

Respondents

Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the police sample (N766). Most respondents were male (84%), were married (82%), had children(88%), held constable positions (62%), worked in urban areas (73%), workedin large departments (100 or more; 36%), worked between 36 and 39 hr perweek (86%), worked 5 or fewer hours of overtime per week (75%), held

Figure 1. Predictors of burnout components.


fairly long police tenure (21 years or more; 39%), and were born in 1960 orbefore (42%). The sample was generally representative of the police unionpopulation in Norway.

Procedure

Data were collected from 766 police officers via anonymously completedquestionnaires, for a 62% response rate. Questionnaires were mailed by thepolice union and returned to an independent research institute. Some mea-sures were translated from English to Norwegian for this study via theback-translation method, whereas other measures had already been translatedinto Norwegian by others (e.g., the Maslach Burnout InventoryGeneralSurvey; Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, & Jackson, 1996).

Measures

Burnout

Three components of burnout were measured by the Maslach BurnoutInventoryGeneral Survey developed by Schaufeli et al. (1996). Exhaustion

Figure 2. Burnout, work, and health outcomes.


Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of SampleCharacteristic N %

GenderMale 640 83.7Female 125 16.3

Year of birth1950 or earlier 93 12.719511960 214 29.319611970 257 35.21971 and later 167 22.8

Education13 years or less 135 12.81416 464 61.217 or more 159 11.0

LocationRural 209 27.3Urban 557 72.7

Size of department119 194 25.82049 168 27.35099 119 15.8100 or more 272 36.1

Shift workRegular 167 72.0Sometimes 266 35.0Around the Clock 329 43.0

Marital statusSingle 134 17.5Married 631 82.5

Partner in policingYes 95 12.5No 663 87.5

Parental statusChildren 602 80.4Childless 147 19.6

Organizational levelManager 20 2.8Supervisor 252 34.9Constable 451 62.4

Police tenure10 years or less 239 32.01120 220 28.82130 232 30.431 years or more 67 8.8

Hours worked35 or less 66 9.03639 628 85.940 or more 37 5.1

Overtime hours05 402 75.46 or more 164 24.6


was measured by five items ( .86). An example item is, I feel emotion-ally drained from my work. Cynicism was assessed by five items ( .78).One item is, I have become more cynical about whether my work contrib-utes anything. Professional efficacy was measured by six items ( .80).A sample item is, At my work, I feel confident that I am effective at gettingthings done. Respondents indicated how frequently they experienced eachitem on a 7-point frequency scale (0 never, 6 always).

Personal Demographic and Work Situation Characteristics

A number of personal demographic and work situation characteristics(e.g., age, marital status, organization size, police tenure) were measured bysingle items typical of those used by others. Work demands were measuredby scales from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ),developed by Kristensen and Borg (2001). Many of the work demandsincluded have been shown to be related to levels of burnout in a variety ofsamples (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). Quantitative demands were measuredby a seven-item scale ( .83). Respondents indicated their agreement witheach item on a 5-point scale (5 always, 1 never/hardly ever). A sampleitem is, Do you have to work very fast? Cognitive demands were assessedby an eight-item scale ( .79). An example item is, Does your workrequire you to make difficult decisions? Emotional demands were measuredby a three-item scale ( .80). An example item is, Does your work putyou in emotionally disturbing situations?

Role clarity was measured by a four-item scale ( .76) anchored by (5)to a large extent and (1) to a very small extent. One item is, Do you knowexactly which areas are your responsibility? Role conflict was assessed by afour-item scale ( .71). An example item is, Are contradictory demandsplaced on you at work? Information was assessed by a two-item scale ( .79). One item is, Do you receive all the information you need to do yourwork well? Leadership quality was measured by an eight-item scale ( .94). A sample item is, To what extent would you say that your immediatesuperiors appreciate the staff and show consideration for the individual?

Coping Resources

Two coping resources were considered. Social support was measured bya four-item scale ( .79) from the COPSOQ (Kristensen & Borg, 2001).An example item is, How often do you get help and support from yourcolleagues? Responses were made on a 5-point scale (5 to a large extent,


1 to a very small extent). Sense of community was measured by three items( .84) from the COPSOQ. One item is, Do you feel part of a communityat your place of work?

Work Outcomes

Two work outcomes were included, both from the CQPSOQ, developedby Kristensen and Borg (2001). Job satisfaction was measured by sevenitems ( .75). Respondents indicated how satisfied they were with eachitem on a 4-point scale: 4 very satisfied, 1 highly unsatisfied. A sampleitem is, How satisfied are you with your usual take home pay? Meaningfulwork was assessed by a five-item scale ( .79) from the COPSOQ. Oneitem is, Do you feel that the work you do is important?

WorkFamily Issues

Two workfamily issues were included on the basis of the work ofTorgen, Stenlund, Ahlberg, and Marklund (2001). Workfamily conflict wasmeasured by five items ( .83). One item was, My work is having anegative impact on my family. Spouse concerns were also measured by fiveitems ( .79). An item was, My spouse/partner worries that my job isaffecting my health.

Psychological Health

Three aspects of psychological health were included. Subjective healthcomplaints or symptoms were measured by a 29-item scale ( .89)developed by Eriksen, Ihlebaek, and Ursin (1999). Respondents indicatedhow frequently they experienced each complaint or symptom (e.g., headache,lower back pain) during the past month on a 4-point frequency scale.

Posttraumatic symptoms were measured by a 10-item scale ( .92)developed by Knudsen et al. (2002). One item was depression. Respon-dents indicated how frequently they experienced each symptom on a 7-pointscale (1 never, 7 very often).

Suicidal ideation was assessed by a four-item measure ( .84) devel-oped by Paykel, Myers, Lindenthal, and Tanner (1974) and used later byothers (see Tyssen, Vaglum, Gronvold, & Ekeberg, 2001). The items are (a)Have you ever felt that life was not worth living? (b) Have you ever


wished you were dead? (c) Have you ever thought of taking your own lifeeven if you would not really do it? and (d) Have you ever reached the pointwhere you seriously considered taking your life, or perhaps made plans howyou would go about doing it?

Physical Health

Four aspects of self-reported physical health were included, most mea-sured by single items. Medication use was measured by a five-item scale( .39). Officers indicated how frequently they had taken each medicationduring the past year (e.g., sleeping pills, pain killers) on a 5-point scale. Thereliability of this scale was, by its very nature, expected to be modest.General health was measured by one item: How is your overall health?(1 poor, 5 very good). Sick leave was measured by a single item: Haveyou taken sick leave during the past 6 months (yes/no). Number of sick dayswas also measured by a single item: If yes, how many sick days have youtaken?

RESULTS

Predictors of Burnout Components

Table 2 shows the results of hierarchical regression analyses in which therelationship of four blocks of predictors with the three burnout componentswere examined (see Figure 1). When a block of predictors accounted for asignificant amount or increment in explained variance, variables within suchblocks that had independent and significant relationships (p .05) with agiven criterion measure were identified. 1

The following comments are offered in summary. First, all blocks ofpredictors accounted for significant amounts of or increments in explainedvariance on levels of emotional exhaustion. Police officers working in urbansettings reported greater exhaustion ( .11). Police officers indicating morequantitative demands and greater emotional demands reported higher levelsof emotional exhaustion (s .21 and .10, respectively). Finally, policeofficers indicating less social support and less sense of community reportedhigher levels of exhaustion (s .10 and .08, respectively).

Second, all four blocks of predictors accounted for significant amounts ofor increments in explained variance on levels of cynicism. Police officers

1 A copy of the full intercorrelation matrix can be obtained from Ronald J. Burke.


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who had longer police tenure and those in larger departments reported lesscynicism (s .24 and .13, respectively). Police officers reporting greaterrole conflict, less information, more quantitative demands, and fewer cogni-tive demands reported higher levels of cynicism (s .19, .16, .10, and.09, respectively). Finally, police officers indicating less social supportreported higher levels of cynicism ( .13).

Third, all four blocks of predictors accounted for significant amounts ofor increments in explained variance on professional efficacy. Men reportedhigher levels of professional efficacy than did women ( .13). Policeofficers working continuous shift work reported lower efficacy ( .12).Police officers reporting greater cognitive demands also reported greaterefficacy ( .23). Finally, police officers indicating greater social support

Table 2. Predictors of Burnout ComponentsBurnout Components R R2 R2 p

Exhaustion (N 632)Personal demographics .14 .02 .02 .05Situational characteristics .20 .04 .02 .05

Urban/rural (.11)Work demands .53 .28 .24 .001Quantitative (.21)Emotional (.10)

Resources .56 .32 .04 .001Social Relations (.12)Social Support (.10)Community (.08)

Cynicism (N 632)Personal demographics .13 .02 .02 .05Situational characteristics .26 .07 .05 .001

Police tenure (.26)Department size (.13)

Work demands .54 .29 .22 .001Role conflict (.19)Information (.16)Quantitative (.10)Cognitive (.09)

Resources .56 .31 .02 .01Social support (.13)Coping (.07)

Professional Efficacy (N 632)Personal demographics .15 .02 .02 .05

Gender (.13)Situational characteristics .22 .05 .03 .01

Shift work (.12)Work demands .36 .13 .08 .001

Cognitive (.23)Resources .40 .16 .03 .001

Social support (.13)Community (.11)

Note. Standardized betas are shown in parentheses.


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and those indicating a stronger sense of community reported higher levels ofefficacy (s .13 and .11, respectively).

Work demands accounted for the largest amount of or increment inexplained variance on all three burnout components. In addition, the fourblocks of predictors accounted for relatively large amounts of variance onboth emotional exhaustion and cynicism.

Predictors of Work Outcomes

Table 3 shows the results of hierarchical regression analyses examiningthe relationship of four blocks of predictors (see Figure 2) with two workoutcomes: job satisfaction and meaningful work. The following commentsare offered in summary. First, all four blocks of predictors accounted forsignificant amounts of or increments in explained variance on job satisfac-tion. Police officers at higher organizational levels reported more job satis-faction ( .11), as did those working regular day shifts ( .10). Policeofficers who had more satisfying leadership indicated greater job satisfaction( .26), as did those reporting more information ( .17). Finally, policeofficers who reported less cynicism also reported more job satisfaction ( .17), as did those who reported greater exhaustion ( .16).

Second, three blocks of predictors accounted for significant increments

Table 3. Burnout and Work OutcomesWork Outcomes R R2 R2 p

Job Satisfaction (N 643)Personal demographics .13 .02 .02 .05Situational characteristics .30 .09 .07 .001

Organizational level (.11)Shift work (.10)

Work demands .69 .47 .38 .001Leadership (.34)Information (.17)

Burnout .73 .53 .06 .001Cynicism (.17)Exhaustion (.16)

Meaningful Work (N 643)Personal demographics .08 .01 .01 nsSituational characteristics .24 .06 .05 .001Work demands .58 .34 .28 .001

Role clarity (.21)Cognitive (.17)Information (.13)

Burnout .70 .49 .15 .001Cynicism (.36)Professional Efficacy (.18)



in explained variance on meaningful work (not personal demographics).Police officers indicating greater role clarity, police officers indicating greatercognitive demands, and police officers reporting more information alsoindicated more meaningful work (s .21, .17, and .13, respectively).Finally, police officers indicating less cynicism and those indicating moreprofessional efficacy also reported higher levels of meaningful work (s .36 and .18, respectively).

Work demands again accounted for the largest amount of or increment inexplained variance on the three work outcomes. Access to information alsohad a significant and independent relationship with all three work outcomes.The four blocks of predictors accounted for a large amount of variance onboth job satisfaction and meaningful work.

Burnout and WorkFamily Issues

Table 4 shows the results of hierarchical regression analyses in which thetwo workfamily measures were regressed on the four blocks of predictors.In both cases, all four blocks of predictors accounted for significant amountsof or increments in explained variance on workfamily conflict and spouseconcerns.

Table 4. Burnout and Work-Family IssuesWork-family issues R R2 R2 p

Work-family conflict (N 574)Personal demographics .17 .03 .03 .01

Year of birth (.19)Situational characteristics .23 .05 .02 .01

Shift work (.09)Organizational level (.09)

Work demands .57 .33 .30 .001Quantitative (.17)Role conflict (.10)

Burnout .64 .41 .08 .001Exhaustion (.32)

Spouse concerns (N 482)Personal demographics .16 .03 .03 .05

Police partner (.11)Situational characteristics .25 .06 .03 .01

Department size (.12)Work demands .53 .28 .22 .001

Cognitive (.12)Emotional (.12)

Burnout .59 .35 .07 .001Exhaustion (.20)Cynicism (.15)



The following comments are offered in summary. Police officers work-ing regular shift work reported more workfamily conflict ( .09), as didthose at higher organizational levels ( .09). Police officers reportinggreater quantitative demands and those reporting more role conflict alsoindicated higher levels of workfamily conflict (s .17 and .10, respec-tively). Finally, police officers indicating higher levels of exhaustion alsoreported more workfamily conflict ( .32).

With respect to spouse concerns, police officers who had another officeras a spouse or partner indicated fewer spouse concerns ( .11). Policeofficers working in larger departments indicated fewer spouse concerns ( .12). Police officers indicating greater quantitative demands and thosereporting greater emotional demands indicated higher levels of spouse con-cerns (s .12, and .11, respectively). Finally, police officers indicatinghigher levels of exhaustion and those indicating more cynicism reportedgreater spouse concerns (s .20 and .15, respectively).

Work demands again accounted for the largest amount of variance on thetwo workfamily measures. Hiding emotions and emotional exhaustion hadsignificant and independent relationships with both workfamily measures.The four blocks of predictors also accounted for a large amount of varianceon both criterion measures.

Table 5. Burnout and Psychological HealthPsychological health R R2 R2 p

Subjective health (N 596)Personal demographics .15 .02 .02 .05

Education (.08) .18 .03 .01 nsSituational characteristics .38 .15 .12 .001Work demands

Cognitive (.14)Burnout .57 .33 .18 .001

Exhaustion (.49)Post traumatic symptoms (N 624)

Personal demographics .07 .00 .00 nsSituational characteristics .15 .02 .02 nsWork demands .42 .18 .16 .001

Role conflict (.10)Burnout .60 .37 .19 .001

Exhaustion (.46)Professional Efficacy (.07)

Suicidal ideation (N 642)Personal demographics .15 .02 .02 .01

Marital status (.16)Situational characteristics .17 .03 .01 nsWork demands .24 .06 .03 .05Burnout .35 .12 .06 .001

Exhaustion (.20)Cynicism (.11)



Burnout and Psychological Health

Table 5 presents the results of hierarchical regression analyses in whichthree measures of psychological health were regressed on the four blocks ofpredictors. First, three blocks of predictors accounted for significant amountsof or increments in explained variance on levels of subjective health com-plaints (not work situation characteristics). Officers who had more educationindicated fewer health complaints ( .08). Officers indicating greatercognitive demands reported more subjective health complaints ( .14).Finally, officers reporting greater emotional exhaustion also reported morehealth complaints ( .49).

Second, two blocks of predictors accounted for significant increments inexplained variance on posttraumatic stress syndrome indicators (not personaldemographics or work situation characteristics). Police officers indicatinghigher levels of role conflict reported more posttraumatic symptoms ( .10). Finally, police officers reporting higher levels of emotional exhaustionand those indicating less professional efficacy also reported more posttrau-matic symptoms (s .46 and .07, respectively).

Third, three blocks of predictors accounted for significant amounts ofand increments in explained variance on suicidal ideation (not work situationcharacteristics). Married police officers indicated less suicidal ideation thandid single officers ( .16). Police officers reporting higher levels ofemotional exhaustion and those indicating greater cynicism reported moresuicidal ideation (s .20 and .11, respectively).

Burnout components accounted for the largest amount of variance oneach of the three indicators of psychological health. Emotional exhaustionhad a significant and independent relationship with each outcome measure.The four blocks of predictors only accounted for moderate amounts ofvariance on these outcomes however.

Burnout and Physical Health

Table 6 presents the results of regression analyses in which four mea-sures of physical health were regressed on the four blocks of predictors. First,three blocks of predictors accounted for significant amounts of or incrementsin explained variance on self-reported overall health (not work situationcharacteristics). Police officers indicating less favorable leadership and thosereporting greater quantitative demands also reported poorer general health(s .09 and .10, respectively). Police officers indicating higher levels ofemotional exhaustion also reported poorer overall health ( .23).

Second, two blocks of predictors accounted for significant increments in


explained variance on medication use (not personal demographics or worksituation characteristics). Police officers reporting higher levels of exhaustionalso indicated greater medication use ( .22).

Third, three blocks of predictors accounted for significant increments inexplained variance on whether any sick days had been taken during the past6 months (not personal demographics). Police officers reporting less access toinformation and officers reporting less favorable leadership also indicatedhaving taken sick days (s .11, and 10, respectively). Finally, policeofficers indicating higher levels of emotional exhaustion were more likely tohave taken sick days ( .21).

Fourth, all four blocks of predictors accounted for a significant amountof or increment in explained variance on number of sick days taken. Singlepolice officers took more sick days ( 09). Officers at lower organiza-tional levels and officers with longer police tenure took more sick days ( s.13 and .24, respectively). Finally, police officers reporting greater emo-tional exhaustion took more sick days ( .15).

Table 6. Burnout and Physical HealthPhysical health R R2 R2 p

Health (N 641)Personal demographics .20 .04 .04 .001Situational characteristics .24 .06 .02 nsWork demands .32 .10 .04 .001

Quantitative (.09)Leadership (.10)

Burnout .38 .14 .04 .001Exhaustion (.23)

Medication use (N 643)Personal demographics .12 .02 .02 nsSituational characteristics .16 .03 .01 nsWork demands .27 .07 .04 .001Burnout .38 .14 .07 .001

Exhaustion (.32)Sick days (N 642)

Personal demographics .11 .01 .01 nsSituational characteristics .19 .04 .03 .05Work demands .26 .07 .03 .05

Leadership (.10)Burnout .31 .10 .06 .001

Exhaustion (.21)Number sick days (N 606)

Personal demographics .16 .03 .03 .01Marital status (.09)

Situational characteristics .23 .05 .02 .01Organizational level (.13)Police tenure (.24)

Work demands .30 .09 .04 .01Burnout .32 .10 .01 .05

Exhaustion (.15)Note. Standardized betas are shown in parentheses.


Emotional exhaustion showed an independent and significant relation-ship with the four physical health measures. The four blocks of predictorsaccounted for only a small amount of variance in each instance, however.

DISCUSSION

This study had two research objectives. The first was to identify potentialpredictors of psychological burnout components among police officers; thesecond was to examine the relationship of burnout with a variety of work andpersonal well-being measures. The findings are consistent with previousresults and extend our understanding of the effects of burnout in worksettings.

Predictors of Burnout

Both work demands and social resources contributed significantly toeach of the three burnout components. It is not surprising that work demandshad the strongest relationship with all three. Consistent with earlier work,personal demographics and work situation characteristics had weaker andinconsistent relationships with burnout components (Burke & Richardsen,2001; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998).

Burnout and Work Outcomes

The research model (see Figure 2) accounted for significant variance inall work outcomes. Both job demands and burnout components had strongrelationships in all cases (see Table 3). Cynicism, which had previously beenfound to be prevalent among police officers (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998),had significant and independent relationships in each case.

Burnout and WorkFamily Issues

Both job demands and burnout components accounted for significantincrements in explained variance on the two workfamily measures. Exhaus-tion had significant and independent relationships with both.


Burnout and Psychological Health

Again, job demands and burnout components accounted for significantincrements in explained variance on all three measures of psychologicalhealth, with burnout contributing more than job demands. Exhaustion hadsignificant and independent relationships with all three measures. There isconsiderable evidence that exhaustion is the strongest predictor of mostindividual work and well-being outcomes (see Burke & Richardsen, 2001;Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003; Schaufeli & Enzman, 1998).

Burnout and Physical Health

Consistent with previous work, both job demands and burnout compo-nents contributed less strongly to physical health outcomes (see Schaufeli &Enzmann, 1998, for similar conclusions). However, burnout components,specifically exhaustion, had a significant and independent relationship withall four physical health indicators. Shirom and his colleagues have argued forsuch a relationship in spite of previous inconsistent or weak findings. Theyargued that exhaustion is most likely to have such effects not only onself-reports of physical health but on physiological markers as well asspecific disease entities (Shirom, 2002).

Addressing Burnout

Some writing has identified possible interventions to reduce levels ofburnout (Burke & Richardsen, 2001; Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003; Schaufeli &Enzmann, 1998). Our findings suggest two fruitful targets for intervention:reducing job demands and improving social resources. Relative to changes indemands of the work environment (Maslach & Leiter, 1997), useful initia-tives would involve making more information available to officers, clarifyingjob roles and desired approaches to policing, allowing officers greater inputand influence in the conduct of their assignments, training senior policesupervisors in human resource management skills, and encouraging greatercandor within the force in the day-to-day pursuit of the job. If they learn tocope with stress better, police officers will be less likely to report negativeattitudinal and psychological effects.

Improving social and coping resources might involve education in activecoping and positive lifestyle behaviors. In addition, it could entail capitaliz-ing on the usually strong camaraderie existing in police forces and using thisresource to more formally encourage and empower peers to solicit and


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provide consecutive social support. The development of mentoring systems,buddy arrangements, and team policing are useful initiatives. If the workenvironment is changed, the sources of burnout can be addressed. In addition,monitoring both levels of job demands and burnout can serve as an earlywarning signal. This information might also identify police officers who needcounseling or treatment because they are burned out (Quick, Quick, Nelson,& Hurrell, 1997). Our findings and recommendations are consistent with anew and emerging intercept in the healthy work organization (Cooper &Williams, 1994); Dejoy & Wilson, 2003; Lindstrom, 1994; Shannon, Rob-son, & Sale, 2001). Wilson, Dejoy, Vandenberg, Richardson, and McGrath(2004) developed and validated a model of healthy work organization show-ing the fundamental role organizational climate plays in employee workadjustment, health, and well-being. Their model provides a basis for inter-vention as well as both a framework for the diagnosis of problem areas anda basis for taking action.

Limitations

We note a few limitations of the study to put the findings into a broadercontext. First, all data were collected with self-report questionnaires, whichraises the possibility of response set tendencies. Second, some of the mea-sures had low internal consistency reliabilities, below the usually acceptedlevel of .70. Third, it is not clear the extent to which the findings generalizeto policing in other countries. It has been observed that countries differ intheir approach to policing. Schaufeli and Enzmann (1998) concluded, how-ever, that burnout profiles in the United States and the Netherlands weresimilar. It is also not clear the extent to which these findings generalize tononpolice occupations, although some occupations (e.g., firefighters) may besimilar to police officers and produce the same results.

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