DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02976
title: Police Stress and Domestic Violence in Police Families in Baltimore, Maryland, 1997-1999
title: Archival Version

description: This study was designed to address deficiencies in the
 existing literature on police work stress and especially on police
 stress-related domestic violence. The study sought to answer the
 following questions: (1) What is the relationship between police
 stress and domestic violence in police families? (2) What is the
 extent of domestic violence in police families? (3) What are the
 current stressors that contribute to police stress? (4) What are some
 of the tools available to measure or evaluate domestic violence in
 police families? (5) Can potentially effective interventions be
 identified to address the risk factors for stress-related domestic
 violence in police families? The study was a collaboration among the
 Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, the Baltimore Police
 Department, and a research team from the Johns Hopkins School of
 Public Health. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to
 approximately 1,100 law enforcement officers who volunteered to
 participate in the study. Major variables focus on stressors,
 workplace/stress environment, coworker environment, unfair treatment,
 work satisfaction, administrative support, health problems, behavior
 problems, and psychological problems. Demographic variables include
 gender, age, ethnicity, education, current rank, military service,
marital status, and if spouse/partner was a police officer.
description: Law enforcement personnel are considered a
 population at high risk for psychosocial work stress. This is an
 important concern because the consequences of police work stress can
 adversely impact the delivery of effective law enforcement, as well as
 pose a threat to the safety of police officers, their coworkers, their
 family and friends, and the general public. In particular, interest
 has focused on the effect of officers' stress on their spouses (or
 partners) and families, especially in terms of domestic violence. In
 response, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
 was promulgated, in part, to promote research on police work stress
 and to identify and evaluate model stress prevention programs. In
 further recognition of this problem, many police departments have
 developed stress-reduction programs. However, most of the programs
 have been individual-based and reactive rather than organizational and
 preventive in nature. Recognizing the need for a psychometrically
 validated and up-to-date police stress assessment tool, and the lack
 of information on domestic violence in police families and whether it
 is related to police stress, the researchers designed this study to
 address these deficiencies in the existing literature on police stress
 and especially on police stress-related domestic violence. The study
 sought to answer the following questions: (1) What is the relationship
 between police stress and domestic violence in police families? (2)
 What is the extent of domestic violence in police families? (3) What
 are the current stressors that contribute to police stress? (4) What
 are some of the tools available to measure or evaluate domestic
 violence in police families? (5) Can potentially effective
 interventions be identified to address the risk factors for
stress-related domestic violence in police families?
description: The study was a collaboration among the Baltimore
 City Fraternal Order of Police, the Baltimore Police Department, and a
 research team from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. To
 address deficiencies in the existing literature on police stress, the
 investigators developed a police stress questionnaire, which included
 a new police stress scale to capture perceived "felt" stress, and
 administered it to a large sample of Baltimore City Police Department
 sworn law enforcement employees. A five-page questionnaire was
 developed to address four major constructs: (1) stressors, (2)
 perceived current stress, (3) coping, and (4) health outcomes. The
 questionnaires were aimed at a 10th-grade reading level and took about
 20 minutes to complete. Questionnaires were distributed to
 approximately 1,100 police officers who volunteered to participate in
 the survey from a total of more than 2,500 full-time sworn officers
 who were in attendance during the morning and/or evening roll calls at
 each of the nine Baltimore precincts. The data that were collected
 were then utilized by Participatory Action Research (PAR) teams using
 Total Quality Management (TQM) techniques to identify police stress
interventions.
description: Major variables focus on stressors,
 workplace/stress environment, coworker environment, unfair treatment,
 work satisfaction, administrative support, health problems, behavior
 problems, and psychological problems. Demographic variables include
 gender, age, ethnicity, education, current rank, military service,
marital status, and if spouse/partner was a police officer.
description: Response Rates: The response rate was 68 percent.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Convenience sampling.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Police Stress and Domestic Violence in Police Families in Baltimore, Maryland, 1997-1999
description: Police officers in Baltimore, Maryland.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instrument are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The
 PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be
 accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat
 Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is
provided on the ICPSR Website.