NCJ Number
78513
Date Published
1979
Length
188 pages
Annotation
This dissertation explores the factors which may be related to the tendency for police officers to become so engulfed in their occupational role that they are unable to play other social roles successfully.
Abstract
The study design treats as the dependent variable the concept of role-person merger, the tendency on the part of the person to feel and act in one role for all situations in which he may find himself. Criteria for measuring role-person merger relate to the failure of role compartmentalization, the resistance to abandon a role despite viable alternatives, the acquisition of attitudes and beliefs appropriate to the role, and the experience of learning a role and of putting it into practice. An instrument with a Leikert-type scale was developed to measure these criteria. Independent variables were length of employment as a police officer, academic achievement, marital status, job status, unit of assignment, type of work shift, work attire, and alienation. The study personnel were the 1,200 personnel of the Patrol Bureau Division of the Dallas Police Department. While length of employment, marital status, and unit assignment exhibited no relationship to role-person merger, a low association was found for academic achievement. The strongest relationship occurred between the officer's rank and role-person merger. The scale developed to measure the role-person merger is deemed to have been a weak instrument for the purpose. Suggestions are made for its reconstruction. Footnotes and tabular data are provided. Appendixes contain the study instruments. Over 60 references are provided.