NCJ Number
113543
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1988) Pages: 44-48
Date Published
1988
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Information from 144 police officers formed the basis of an analysis of the relationships among personal and demographic characteristics, personality factors, problem drinking, and injury claims made by police officers.
Abstract
The officers were grouped according to the frequency with which they had made claims between January 1971 and October 1980. They completed a biographical data sheet, the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, and the Mortimer-Filkins Questionnaire. Findings showed that accident-prone officers differed in demonstrable ways from officers who were less likely to be injured. Accident-prone officers with 10 or fewer years of service seek social contact and seek the limelight more than their less accident-prone colleagues. They are more likely to be belligerent, hostile, and contemptuous of others and to tend more toward problem drinking. Other dominant features of their personalities were hypersensitivity, self-centeredness, suspiciousness, resentment, and a desire to dominate others. By contrast, accident-prone officers with 11 or more years of service have a personality style that is dominated by avoidance of social activities and contacts. They are also more self-defensive and prestige-seeking than their colleagues. Among these officers, however, age is negatively correlated with the number of injury claims. Educational and preventive programs should rest on awareness of these results. Tables.