Occupational Stress, Personality Traits, Coping Strategies, and Suicide Ideation in the South African Police Service

• NCJ Number: 217465
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 246-258
• Author(s): Jacobus Pienaar; Sebastiaan Rothmann; Fons J.R. Van De Vijver
• Date Published: February 2007
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2053344
• Sponsoring Agency: National Research Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether suicidal thoughts among uniformed officers in the South African Police Service (SAPS) could be predicted from measures of occupational stress, personality traits, and coping strategies.

Abstract

The study found a positive relationship between suicidal thoughts among SAPS officers and avoidance coping (attempting to ignore the effects of occupational stress on behavior and attitudes rather than address them through problem-solving techniques and stress management). On the other hand, officers who actively engaged and confronted the occupational stresses they experienced by finding meaning for events within a religious framework were able to counter the effects of negative work experiences and their fostering of suicidal thoughts. Two personality dimensions were related to suicidal thoughts: low emotional stability and low conscientiousness. Based on these findings, the authors recommend hiring applicants who score high on conscientiousness, emotional stability, approach coping, and religious commitment while having low scores on the use of avoidance reactions to stress. A second recommendation is for the SAPS to establish programs that can help officers cope constructively with work-related problems and relationship difficulties. The study grouped the police stations of all South African Provinces (with the exception of the Northwest Province, which was included in an earlier study) into small stations (fewer than 25 staff), medium stations (25 to 100 staff), and large stations (more than 100 staff). All officers in randomly identified small and medium stations in each Province were asked to complete the questionnaire, and stratified random samples were selected from large stations according to sex and ethnicity. The total sample (n=1,794) included all major racial groupings in South Africa. The measuring instruments included in the questionnaire were the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire, the Police Stress Inventory, the Personality Characteristics Inventory, and the COPE. The latter instrument measures both situational and dispositional coping strategies. 3 tables and 59 references