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Police stress, state-trait anxiety, and stressors among U.S. Marshals
Journal of Criminal Justice 32 (2004) 631 – 641
Police stress, state-trait anxiety, and stressors among U.S. Marshals Deborah Wilkins Newman*, M. LeeAnne Rucker-Reed Department of Criminal Justice, P.O. Box 238, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, United States
Abstract Unlike previous studies on stress in local police officers, this study was unique in that it used Deputy U.S. Marshals as the population pool. This study replicated the study conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996) who determined stress levels and stressors of police officers. A standardized inventory of stress was combined with a questionnaire about job stressors, individual job and career variables, and personal variables. One hundred Deputy U.S. Marshals from offices across the country responded to an anonymous survey. Generally, deputies scored low on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983). The main stressors identified by the respondents were related to organizational variables, i.e., problems with management, bad bosses, and work environment. More stress was experienced by deputies who were inclined to think about job-related illnesses or being injured while on duty, those who were facing retirement, and those who disliked their current assignments. D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction For more than fifty years, people studied stress and its effects on various individuals, and for almost as long, researchers attempted to explain why police officers appeared to suffer from an inordinate amount of stress. Some of these studies focused on aspects of the job to determine the cause of the stress without going beyond the normal understanding of the word (Fell, Richard, & Wallace, 1980; Malloy & Mays, 1984; Pendleton, Stotland, Spiers, & Kirsch, 1989). Other studies provided their own definitions of stress. Some studies referred
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to stress as a non-specific response of the body to any demand placed on it (Harpold & Feemster, 2002; Lawrence, 1984; Swanson, Territo, & Taylor, 1998), while other studies defined stress as a response to different internal and external demands of life (Harpold & Feemster, 2002). One study labeled stress as the body’s reaction to internal and external stimuli that upset the body’s normal state, in which the stimuli might be physical, mental, or emotional (Dempsey, 1994). Storch and Panzarella (1996) stated that tension related to a specific stressor was what one would normally refer to as stress; however, when tension did not have an immediately identifiable stimulus, it was usually referred to as anxiety. Even with the numerous definitions and explanations of stress, it could still be quite difficult to study because of the ambiguous effect on an individual largely due to the fact that
0047-2352/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2004.08.003
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any one factor could be either a positive stressor termed eustress or a negative stressor termed distress (Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Swanson et al., 1998). When studying stress, most researchers typically utilized only local level police officers in their research. They had not attempted to determine what stressors, if any, affected federal law enforcement officers. Much of the literature addressed the purpose and the duties of a specific federal agency, but did not explore how the stressors of that job affected the individual federal officers or agents (Hoffer, 1986; Linkins, 1997; Slate, 1997; Stanton, 1985; Stutler, 2000). Among those studies, only a few focused on the U.S. Marshals Service, and those dealt only with explaining aspects of the job (Caudell-Feagan, 1993; Morris, 1985; Slate, 1997). Prior to this study, no research was conducted to empirically determine if U.S. Marshals experienced the same stressors as found to be experienced by local law enforcement officers. Consequently, this study was needed to provide valuable feedback for the administration of federal and local law enforcement agencies, in general, and for the administration of the U.S. Marshal Service specifically. To accomplish this purpose, this study used the U.S. Marshal Service as the population and replicated prior research on police officer stress conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996).
Identifying law enforcement stressors It was stated that police work was more stressful than most other occupations, and that the stress was caused by inherent dangers of the job such as repeated encounters with violent people, the risk of being assaulted with a deadly weapon, and the possibility of being seriously injured, even killed (Dempsey, 1994; Fell et al., 1980; Lawrence, 1984; Reiser & Geiger, 1984; Swanson et al., 1998). The belief that these encounters were the primary cause of stress continued to prevail throughout the literature even though empirical evidence was insufficient to support this position (Lawrence, 1984; Malloy & Mays, 1984; Terry, 1981). Malloy and Mays (1984) defined the problems associated with identifying police stressors as stemming bfrom a priori assumptions regarding the stressors inherent in police workQ (p. 207). They summarized much of the literature as suggesting that the impending threat of physical harm and involvement in violent situations were the major police stressors. They noted, however, that the strongest research in the area actually suggested, bthat helplessness and feelings of uncontrollability in the work environment may be a major source of stress for police officersQ (p. 207). As summarized by
Lawrence (1984), such findings did not diminish the dangers faced by police officers, but those factors over which the officer had little personal control, such as work schedules and the administration, proved to be most stressful. Adding to the difficulty in identifying job stressors, police officers themselves described their work as being more potentially dangerous than actually dangerous (Cullen, Link, Travis, & Lemming, 1983). Contributing to the confusion, the crime fighter orientation and mentality of the officer could nullify the stress that might otherwise be engendered by police work (Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Stotland, 1991). In addition, it was suggested that the excitement of the occasional encounter with violence might even mitigate some of the stress caused by organizational variables (Crank & Caldero, 1991). The quest of many researchers over the past couple of decades was to eliminate the confusion surrounding police stressors by empirically identifying them. In order to provide a definitional basis for the research, some studies arranged the specific factors that led to stress into four basic categories: organizational practices, the criminal justice system, the public, and the police work itself (Reese, 1986; Swanson et al., 1998; Territo & Vetter, 1981; Violanti & Aron, 1993). Other studies narrowed the factors down to two major categories based on the job stressors mentioned by officers: organizational and inherent police stressors (Martelli, Waters, & Martelli, 1989; Swanson et al., 1998; Violanti & Aron, 1995). Organizational practices were defined as those events precipitated by the administration that were bothersome to the officers, while inherent factors were defined as those events generally occurring in police work which could be harmful to the officers, i.e., danger, violence, and crime (Violanti & Aron, 1993). When comparing the two stressors, researchers generally concluded that the organizational stressors had a stronger impact overall on officers than the inherent factors (Graf, 1986; Martelli et al., 1989; Norvell, Belles, & Hills, 1988; Violanti & Aron, 1995). Storch and Panzarella (1996) studied the proposed categories and observed that two main groups seemed to develop from among the categories. They found that one of the main groups of stressors included the organizational variables, i.e., relationships with superiors, personnel policies, and work conditions. Storch and Panzarella (1996) added that among the organizational stressors in police work were the lack of promotional opportunity and, ironically, an actual promotion. The second major group of stressors consisted of relationships with those who were not police officers, i.e., the public, the media, and the legal system.
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Other studies focused on different types of stress factors. Norvell et al. (1988) found that the law enforcement supervisor often experienced conflicting pressures and responsibilities from both subordinates and management heightening their perceived stress while they also experienced many of the same factors that contributed to stress in the line officer. Still other studies supported that impending retirement also appeared to lead to stress, which led to the conclusion that leaving police work might be just as stressful as being in police work (Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Violanti, 1992).
Effects of stress on police officers Some studies focused on how police officers dealt with stress and how stress affected their personalities. A study by Violanti and Marshall (1983) looked at the relationship among occupational stressors, individual stress, and coping strategies, and concluded that the officers responded either psychologically or behaviorally to the pressure of police work by becoming cynical and/or deviant. Evans, Coman, and Stanley (1992) studied whether or not differences existed between the temperaments and behaviors of groups of police officers with different lengths of service, and found that certain personality traits, such as suspiciousness, aloofness, cynicism, and authoritarianism did develop or become stronger over time as the officers became more skilled and experienced at dealing with their work duties and stressors. Dempsey (1994) studied personality traits common to most police officers, i.e., authoritarianism, suspicion, racism, hostility, insecurity, conservatism, and cynicism, and found that this cluster of traits was shaped by constant exposure to danger and the need to use force and/or authority to control threatening situations. Variables of an officer’s job and individual differences undoubtedly contribute to a greater understanding of police stress (Lawrence, 1984). Violanti (1983) examined how certain patterns of stress developed throughout an officer’s time on the job, and discovered that police officers seemed to go through four transitory stages during their careers: (1) the alarm stage (zero to five years), (2) the disenchantment stage (six to thirteen years), (3) the personalization stage (fourteen to twenty years), and (4) the introspection stage (twenty-plus years). He concluded that these stages affected the officer’s perception of stress and that stress itself was not a consistent factor in police work, but varied according to the perception of the officer at the different stages in their career. Another study found that job satisfaction seemed to promote lower stress levels
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and, accordingly, fewer symptoms of stress (Hoath, Schneider, & Starr, 1998). Job satisfaction itself appeared to be affected by two variables: individual characteristics, such as the career orientations of officers and their tenure in the organization, and workplace characteristics, such as the officer’s actual assignment. Some researchers opted to study the various effects that stress had on the health of police officers. In a review of the literature on police stress, Terry (1983) counted thirty-five physiological effects of job-related stressors including virtually every ailment from headaches and sinus attacks to shrinking thalmuses, spastic colons, and grinding teeth. He further noted that the main ailments found among police officers were digestive disorders, respiratory problems, and cardiovascular diseases. Similarly, Territo and Vetter (1981) found that stressors could have many different effects on a police officer’s personality, health, job performance, and home life. They asserted that the long-term response to stress could manifest itself several ways: (1) in one’s personality as chronic depression, alienation, or alcoholism; (2) in one’s health as ulcers, high blood pressure, or diabetes; (3) in one’s job performance as decreased productivity, job dissatisfaction, or slower reaction time; and (4) in one’s home life as divorce, social isolation, or loss of friends. Swanson et al. (1998) determined that stress produced varied psychological disturbances, physiological disorders, and emotional instabilities.
Measuring stress in police officers Various studies made use of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory in conducting studies on police officer stress (Spielberger et al., 1983). This inventory was a standardized test that measured anxiety as it related to present circumstances—state anxiety, and anxiety that was ingrained in one’s personality—trait anxiety. The state anxiety scale evaluated many essential qualities, such as feelings of apprehension, tension, nervousness, and worry, and determined how the person felt bright now, at this momentQ (p. 6). Additionally, it could be used to examine how one felt at a specific time in the recent past or how one might feel in a future situation. The scores on the state scale bincrease in response to physical danger and psychological stress and decrease as a result of relaxation trainingQ (p. 6). The trait anxiety scale consists of statements that assess how people bgenerallyQ feel, and it examines, bdifferences between people in the tendency to perceive stressful situations as dangerous or threateningQ (Spielberger et al., 1983, p. 5). It can also
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reflect the bindividual differences in the frequency and intensityQ (p. 5) with which these states were manifested in the past or will be experienced in the future. Basically, the stronger the trait anxiety, the more likely a person will demonstrate more intense elevations in state anxiety in a threatening situation. Scores for both scales, the state anxiety and the trait anxiety, can vary from a minimum of 20 indicating low anxiety to a maximum of 80 indicating high anxiety. Individual or group scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory are given meaning by comparing the scores to published norms for comparable groups or by correlating the scores with life events or situations (Spielberger et al., 1983). Using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Bergen and Bartol (1983) conducted a study of police officers, and reported a mean score of 34.5 for trait anxiety, but found two mean scores for state anxiety: (1) 32.36 immediately before beginning a shift, and (2) 37.93 at the end of a shift. These scores indicated that, prior to starting work, officers did not seem to exhibit high levels of stress. At the end of the day, the higher scores revealed that they experienced some stress during their shift. Territo and Vetter (1981) determined that it was quite apparent some stress factors were unique to policing, while others were comparable to the sorts of stress encountered in other occupations and professions. Pendleton et al. (1989) compared police officers to both firefighters and municipal workers, and in utilizing the Inventory; they found that the mean scores for police officers of 34.1 for state anxiety and 32.0 for trait anxiety were higher than the firefightersT scores but lower than the non-emergency municipal workersT scores. Two studies compared police officers and teachers; however, they arrived at mixed and inconclusive findings (Sigler & Wilson, 1988; Sigler, Wilson, & Allen, 1991). Patterson (1992) found that, while police officers reported more stress than probation and parole officers, they actually reported less stress than corrections officers. These studies comparing policing to other occupations indicated that while police work did seem to be a stressful profession, it was not found to be the most stressful of the occupations, as some might tend to believe. Another study, which only tested the trait anxiety, showed officers with six to eleven years of service had the highest mean score of 35.7, officers with less than six years had a mean score of 35.5, and officers with twelve or more years had the lowest mean score of 32.7 (Evans et al., 1992). These values indicated that those who chose to remain in police work throughout their careers eventually adapted to the job-related stressors and experienced a decrease in
their stress levels. Furthermore, once it was taken into account that the normative scores for working males, in general, nineteen to thirty-nine years old were 36.54 for state anxiety and 35.55 for trait anxiety, it appeared that the average levels of state and trait anxiety for police officers were not very high when compared to other professions or even other individuals (Storch & Panzarella, 1996). Storch and Panzarella (1996) focused on specific assignments, critical points in the career, and other particular aspects of police stress. In their study, they found that the key stressors in police work were organizational factors, i.e., work conditions, conflicts with superiors. They also determined that age, education, marital status, and retirement expectations were not related to anxiety scores; however, there was more state anxiety found to be associated with officers who had fewer children, less time on the job, less time in their current assignment, and a younger retirement age. Moreover, they also noted a correlation between trait anxiety and how often an officer thought about injury while on duty. Given the obscure nature of some potential stressors, Storch and Panzarella (1996) identified stress factors without being suggestive by asking open-ended questions, such as what officers liked and disliked about both police work in general and about their specific assignments.
Comparing stress in local law enforcement to federal agencies Even though most researchers agreed that officers did experience many stress-related problems in their work, many researchers argued that police work was not adequately compared to other occupations (Gaines, Southerland, Angell, & Worrall, 2003; Terry, 1983; Violanti & Aron, 1995). Those who endeavored to study stress, and its effect on police officers, typically utilized local level officers and had not ventured to find out what stressors, if any, affected federal law enforcement officers. Much of the literature dealing with federal agencies explored the purpose and/or the duties of a specific federal agency. Stanton (1985) discussed the roles and purposes of different occupations within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). In another article, Stutler (2000) elaborated on how the FBI dealt with espionage. Hoffer (1986) discussed the drug problem that faced the country and the efforts made by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to eliminate this problem. Linkins (1997) focused on the FBI Acad-
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emy and how it played a role in training agents for both the FBI and the DEA. Of those articles that elaborated on a federal agency for their topic, only a small minority of them focused on the U.S. Marshals Service. Morris (1985) discussed the U.S. Marshal’s role in apprehending fugitives. He described some of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) operations and how they targeted areas of the country where information indicated the existence of a large number of federal and non-federal fugitives. In addition, Slate (1997) examined the Federal Witness Security Program, which was operated by the U.S. Marshals Service. He explored its costs and effectiveness along with its benefits and pitfalls. CaudellFeagan (1993) addressed the area of detaining federal prisoners as being a U.S. Marshals function necessary for the successful operation of the federal judicial process.
Objectives and hypotheses Although a few studies explained some of the integral parts of the U.S. Marshals Service, no studies were conducted to empirically determine if U.S. Marshals experienced the same stressors as local level officers. This oversight left a significant group of law enforcement without valuable data useful in the management and administration of its agencies. Since it was known that stress could lead to varied psychological disturbances, organic diseases, emotional instability, and physiological disorders, beven a superficial review of the human, organizational, and legal impacts of stress-related health problems should sensitize every administrator toward the prevention, treatment, and solution of these problemsQ (Swanson et al., 1998, p. 301). Providing basic information in this area for the U.S. Marshals Service, and for federal law enforcement in general, was therefore a major reason for this research. Toward this endeavor, this study essentially replicated the study conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996), except that they studied police officers while this research utilized Deputy U.S. Marshals. Accordingly, the hypotheses for this study were similar to their hypotheses. First, they hypothesized that the principal negative stressors would be organizational factors and relationships with outsiders, instead of potential violence or exposure to human misery. Second, they hypothesized that the amount of anxiety experienced by police officers would not differ significantly from adult normative samples. Third, they determined which anxiety levels could be related to specific occupational and personal variables, such as the
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particular stressors listed by the respondents, their assignments, their injuries, their career development, and their demographics. These three hypotheses of Storch and Panzarella’s study were adopted in this study.
Method All the data were collected through anonymous questionnaires. Replicating the Storch and Panzarella study (1996), the demographic data included age, gender, education, marital status, age upon joining the U.S. Marshals Service, number of years in law enforcement and in the present assignment, rank, promotional expectations, and retirement expectations. The survey included open-ended questions designed to determine the likes and dislikes of being a deputy in general and in the current assignment; frequency of thoughts concerning the possibility of injuries and illness while working; actual on-the-job injuries; and retirement expectations. In order to measure stress, all subjects also responded to the Spielberger et al.’s (1983) State Trait Anxiety Inventory. The surveys were mailed to a randomly selected group of 180 deputies who were located throughout the country. A letter was included with each questionnaire explaining that completion of the forms was to be done voluntarily and anonymously. The sample, representing the population of 2,692 full-time U.S. Marshals (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003), included deputies from numerous different cities, which varied in size from one of the largest, i.e., New York City, New York, to one of the smallest, i.e., Springfield, Illinois. Of those who were sent a survey, the overall response rate was 55 percent (exactly one hundred deputies) returning their questionnaires. The answers that were written for the openended questions regarding the likes and dislikes about being a deputy in general and about one’s present assignment were analyzed for their content, and categories were formulated from a sample of the responses. The same seventeen categories, including a category for bno answer,Q were used for classifying the likes about being a deputy and about one’s current assignment. Eighteen categories, including a bno answerQ category, were utilized for the dislikes about being a deputy and about one’s current assignment. Data were analyzed by determining the productmoment correlation coefficient (SPSS Version 11). Correlations (r) were computed between individual scores on stressors and the individual scores on the Spielberger et al.’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory.
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Results Eighty-two percent of the responding subjects were male and 18 percent were female, closely representing the actual 88 percent male and 12 percent female population of the U.S. Marshals Service (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003). The largest age group was thirty-one to thirty-five years with 40 percent of respondents falling into this category. The education levels ranged from 2 percent having a high school diploma to 7 percent having a master’s degree; however, the majority, 57 percent of deputies had a bachelor’s degree. Nineteen percent were single, 14 percent were divorced, and 67 percent were married at the time they filled out the questionnaire. Sixty-four percent had at least one or more children. Job-related demographics revealed that 48 percent of those surveyed joined the U.S. Marshals Service between the ages of twenty-six and thirty. Even though 72 percent had less than ten years in the U.S. Marshals Service, 49 percent had been in law enforcement for more than eleven years. Fiftyseven percent had numerous different duties that they were assigned on a daily basis, while the more specialized positions included: (1) 20 percent assigned to the court squad, (2) 11 percent assigned to the warrant squad, (3) one deputy assigned to threat investigations, and (4) one other was a witness security inspector. Supervisory positions accounted for only 5 percent of respondents, which included four actual supervisors and one chief deputy; nevertheless, 33 percent felt that they would be promoted within the next three years. Forty-two
percent believed they would retire between the ages of fifty-four and fifty-seven; however, 59 percent planned on getting another job after they retired from the U.S. Marshals Service. More than half of those getting another job did not know what type it would be. Ninety-nine percent did think that retirement would be pleasant with only one person believing it would be boring. The responses concerning the likes and dislikes about being a deputy are reported in Table 1, and the items are listed in rank order along with the number of individuals citing each category. The most common blikeQ was the variety of work associated with being a Deputy U.S. Marshal with a 21.7 percent of the answers falling into this category. The two items that tied for second place were working warrants (arresting fugitives) and a good salary each with 11.8 percent of the responses, followed by job security with 10.5 percent. Management/administration was the bdislikeQ most mentioned by respondents with 38 percent of all the answers falling into this category. Bad bosses came in as a distant second with 23.7 percent citing this category, and tied at third place were bad colleagues and politicians each with 6 percent. When both management and bad bosses were combined, 62 percent of deputies disliked these items. The responses to what was liked and disliked about the current assignment are reported in Table 2. The items are listed in rank order along with the number citing each category. The most liked aspect of the current assignment was working warrants or arresting fugitives with 18.7 percent of responses. Second place consisted of a tie between the ease of
Table 1 Likes and dislikes about being a Deputy U.S. Marshal Rank
No.
Likes item
Rank
No.
Dislikes item
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 11 12 13 13 13 13 17
33 18 18 16 13 12 11 9 6 6 4 3 2 2 2 2 1
Variety Warrants, arresting fugitives Good salary Job security Authority, status Travel Co-workers Schedule, working hours Feeling of satisfaction No answer Ease of work Excitement Retirement benefits Respect Providing safety Good benefits Location, city
1 2 3 3 5 6 6 8 8 10 11 11 13 13 13 13
63 39 10 10 8 7 7 6 6 4 2 2 1 1 1 1
Management, administrators Bad bosses Politicians Bad colleagues U.S. Marshals Service policies Inadequate resources Nuisance tasks Court work Boredom No answer Poor pay Too much travel Poor schedule Public scrutiny Heavy workload Lack of respect
Note: Dislikes not mentioned in this section: too few personnel, danger, and fear.
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Table 2 Likes and dislikes about one’s current assignment Rank
No.
Likes item
Rank
No.
Dislikes item
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 12 12 14 14 14
23 16 16 15 12 11 9 7 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 2
Warrants, arresting fugitives Schedule, working hours Ease of work Variety Co-workers No answer Location, city Feeling of satisfaction Excitement Job security Good benefits Authority, status Good salary Travel Respect Providing safety
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11 11 14 14 14
20 18 18 16 14 11 10 9 6 4 3 3 3 1 1 1
No answer Court work Nuisance tasks Boredom Bad bosses Management, administrators Bad colleagues Inadequate resources Poor schedule Politicians Two few personnel Heavy workload Lack of respect Danger, fear Too much travel U.S. Marshals Service policies
Note: Dislikes not mentioned in this section: poor pay and public scrutiny.
the work and the schedule or hours, each with 13 percent, and close behind was the variety of their assignments with 12.2 percent. With respect to the dislikes about the current assignment, the highest ranked category was the one for bno answerQ with 14.5 percent of the answers. Court work and nuisance tasks tied for second place. Each had 13 percent of the responses, and not too far behind was boredom with 11.6 percent. The average scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were 33.6 on the state anxiety scale and 32.94 on the trait anxiety scale. Only the significant correlations between the anxiety scales and the other variables are shown in Table 3. Neither state nor trait anxiety was significantly related to age, gender, education, marital status, number of children, age of youngest child, years on the job, years in law enforcement, rank, years in position, expecting a promotion, getting a job after retirement, times actually injured, or times actually sick.
A significant negative correlation (r= .218, pb.05) was found between the age they expected to retire and the deputy’s state anxiety, and a slightly stronger negative correlation (r= .259, pb.01) was found to exist between the expected retirement age and their trait anxiety. Additionally, a deputy’s current assignment was determined to be negatively correlated with both state and trait anxiety (r= .208, pb.05 and r= .222, pb.05, respectively) (see Table 3). A significant positive correlation (r=.197, pb.05) was found to exist between how often one thought about injury and trait anxiety. Moreover, the frequency of thoughts about job-related illnesses was found to be positively correlated with both state and trait anxiety (r=.232, pb.05 and r=.231, pb.05, respectively). One other significant positive correlation (r=.2, pb.05) was determined to exist between what a deputy thought retirement would be like and state anxiety (see Table 3).
Table 3 Significant correlates of state and trait anxiety
Discussion
Variable Trait anxiety Age expected to retire What retirement is like Frequency of thoughts about being injured Frequency of thoughts about illness Current assignment * pb.05. ** pb.01.
State anxiety
Trait anxiety
.832** .218* .200* .103
.259** .186 .197*
.232*
.231*
.208*
.222*
Hypothesis 1. The principal negative stressors for U.S Marshals will be organizational factors and relationships with outsiders, instead of potential violence or exposure to human misery. The first hypothesis of this study was confirmed and was consistent with the research conclusions drawn by Storch and Panzarella (1996) regarding police officer stress. The major stressors for Deputy U.S. Marshals were found to be those things associated with organizational factors, such as prob-
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lems with management, bad bosses, and the work environment, instead of those issues related to risk of bodily harm or encounters with violence and human misery. When these results were compared to and combined with the findings of other studies that utilized local police officers as their subject group (Graf, 1986; Lawrence, 1984; Norvell et al., 1988; Sigler & Wilson, 1988; Sigler et al., 1991; Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Swanton, 1980; Violanti & Aron, 1995), there was a considerable consensus that the principal sources of stress in law enforcement work were, in fact, the organizational variables and relationships with non-police. Additionally, when the responses to the open-ended questions were examined more closely, the answers indicated that the deputies actually wanted to put themselves at risk in the performance of their duties. Since working warrants (arresting fugitives) was the number one answer for likes about current assignment and the number two answer for likes about the U.S. Marshals Service in general, it could be concluded that the risks associated with chasing criminals, i.e., encounters with violence or human misery and possible bodily harm or death, were not stressors but were actually duties that were enjoyed and, possibly, even sought out by deputies. These findings corresponded with the research findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) and others (Crank & Caldero, 1991; Stotland, 1991) that the excitement of the occasional encounter with violence might mitigate or even nullify the stress caused by organizational variables or other stressors engendered by police work. As explained by Hans Selye (1980), a prominent researcher on stress and its effects, doing what one enjoyed or experiencing positive stress (eustress) could reduce an individual’s level of negative stress (distress). Hypothesis 2. The amount of anxiety experienced by U.S. Marshals will not differ significantly from adult normative samples. The second hypothesis that the anxiety levels of U.S. Marshals would not differ significantly from adult normative samples was confirmed, paralleling the findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) on police officer stress. In actuality, the state anxiety mean of 33.6 and the trait anxiety mean of 32.94 found in this study with U.S. Marshals were slightly lower than the published norms for working males ages nineteen to thirty-nine, which were 36.54 for state anxiety and 35.55 for trait anxiety (Spielberger et al., 1983). These results on U.S. Marshals stress levels were similar to research findings that compared police officer stress levels to stress levels experienced by workers in other occupations in which levels of police officer stress were found not
to significantly differ from some other occupations (Patterson, 1992; Pendleton et al., 1989; Territo & Vetter, 1981). Hypothesis 3. Anxiety levels of U.S. Marshals will be significantly related to some specific occupational and personal variables, and will not be significantly related to other variables. Significant relationships were found to exist between anxiety levels and some occupational and personal variables of U.S. Marshals, while no significant relationships were found between other variables. No relationship was found to exist between education and anxiety for U.S. Marshals. Similarly, Storch and Panzarella (1996) found no significant relationship between education and anxiety levels for police officers. Crank, Regoli, Hewitt, and Culbertson (1993), however, found a different result among police executives. They concluded that higher stress levels were related to lower education levels among the higher echelons of local law enforcement. This study did not address the bexecutiveQ levels of U.S. Marshals; therefore, further research is needed to determine if the results would be similar for U.S. Marshals in upper management. Additionally, for U.S. Marshals neither state nor trait anxiety was significantly related to age, gender, marital status, number of children, age of youngest child, years on the job, years in law enforcement, rank, years in current assignment, expecting a promotion, getting a job after retirement, times actually injured, or times actually sick. Storch and Panzarella (1996) found similar non-significant results for police officers for the same variables except they found higher state anxiety associated with officers who had fewer children, fewer years on the job, and fewer years in the current assignment. This difference between U.S. Marshals and police officers with these variables could be due to the interactive effects of younger ages in these police officer groups since bentry agesQ for U.S. Marshals were generally bolderQ than in local law enforcement. Further study is needed to adequately address the reasons for this difference. A positive correlation was found between state anxiety and what deputies thought retirement would be like. Although 99 percent of deputies thought that retirement would be pleasant, this finding seemed to indicate that the idea of leaving law enforcement could be as much of a stressor as actually being in law enforcement. This was similar to the findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) and Violanti (1992) who found that leaving police work was as stressful as being in police work.
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A positive correlation was also determined to exist between how often U.S. Marshals thought about injury and their trait anxiety, which was similar to the results found among police officers in the study conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996). Since the trait anxiety scale measured anxiety that was embedded within an individual’s personality, this finding tended to show that deputies had a personality trait that led them to worry about getting injured while on duty, thus, creating a stressor for them. Whether or not this trait existed prior to becoming a deputy, or it was something that developed while on the job, was not determined by this study. Perhaps, this is an area that should be explored by other studies in the future since specific research was lacking in this area. Another positive correlation was found to exist between both state and trait anxiety and how often U.S. Marshals thought about job-related illnesses, which again was somewhat similar to the research results on police officer stress conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996). This result was not surprising, although no other prior research specifically addressed this law enforcement detail. Considering the fact that most deputies came in contact with prisoners on a daily basis either on the street, in court, or in a holding cell, and on any given day there was at least one or more that had some kind of highly contagious and/or life threatening illness, then it was easy to see why deputies worried about job-related illnesses, which in turn became a stress factor that led to higher anxiety levels. Since the number of actual illnesses or injuries did not have any significant correlation with either state or trait anxiety, these correlations led to the conclusion that a perceived potential problem tended to create more stress for deputies than an actual problem. Similar to the findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) on police officers, a negative correlation was found between state and trait anxiety and the age when a U.S. Marshal expected to retire, which indicated that those deputies who intended to retire at a younger age seemed to have more stress. A probable explanation was that since they were leaving their occupation at an earlier age, they would most likely be getting another job before they could fully retire and begin collecting their retirement benefits, thereby creating more anxiety for them. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between the U.S. Marshal’s current assignment and both state and trait anxiety. Based on the analysis of the data, those deputies who were assigned to the court squad were found to have the highest anxiety levels, while those who had either a more specialized job or a variety of jobs were found to have
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less stress. Since as shown in both Tables 1 and 2 that the bmost likedQ aspects of their job were the variety and working warrants, it was understandable that these items would not be the cause of their stress. As indicated in Tables 1, 2, and 3, a U.S. Marshal’s stress seemed to be the result of organizational variables, i.e., relationships with superiors and work conditions, not the specific responsibilities of the job itself.
Conclusion Storch and Panzarella (1996) stated, bIt is undeniable that police work includes moments of very high stress, even terror, but these moments are rareQ (p. 106). They further expounded that most workdays passed without dramatic events; however, when these significant events did occur, they were often experienced as eustress, or positive stressors, by officers who enjoyed the excitement of the job. This explanation seemed to apply to U.S. Marshals as well. The results of this study supported, in general, that deputies experienced similar levels of stress and responded similarly to the same types of stressors as police officers. Furthermore, like police officers, deputies seemed to enjoy performing certain duties, such as chasing criminals and risking their life, tasks that much of the general population would consider very stressful. The variables found to be associated with stress in Deputy U.S. Marshals, like that in local law enforcement, were directly related to organizational variables, such as problems with management, bad bosses, and the working environment. Also similar to local law enforcement, the inherent dangers of the job and encounters with human misery were not among the stress factors for deputies. The main difference between this study and the Storch and Panzarella study (1996) on police officers was that one of the major dislikes for local officers was their work schedule, which included rotating shifts. Work schedules were not an issue for deputies, perhaps because they, unlike local law enforcement, generally only worked regular daytime hours and not on weekends. The findings from this study could prove very useful to the supervisory personnel within the U.S. Marshals Service and for federal law enforcement agencies in general. Supervisors could utilize this information to improve the working relationship between management and deputies or agents. The knowledge could be used to create a better working environment and to reduce stress levels, thereby providing a more efficient and effective law enforcement agency for everyone. Further study is needed to
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provide law enforcement officers and supervisors with the best techniques for mitigating stressors within the agency and to reduce stress levels within individuals. Also, due to the differences among federal law enforcement agencies, additional research replicating this study could provide useful information for other federal agencies.
References Bergen, G. T., & Bartol, C. R. (1983). Stress in rural law enforcement. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 56, 957 – 958. Caudell-Feagan, L. S. (1993). Federal detention: The United States Marshals Service’s management of a challenging program. Federal Probation, 57(4), 22 – 27. Crank, J. P., & Caldero, M. (1991). The production of occupational stress in medium-sized police agencies: A survey of line officers in eight municipal departments. Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, 339 – 349. Crank, J. P., Regoli, B., Hewitt, J. D., & Culbertson, R. G. (1993). An assessment of work stress among police executives. Journal of Criminal Justice, 21, 313 – 324. Cullen, F. T., Link, B. G., Travis, L. F., III, & Lemming, T. (1983). Paradox in policing: A note on perceptions of danger. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 11, 457 – 462. Dempsey, J. S. (Ed.). (1994). The police culture: Personality and stress. Policing: An introduction to law enforcement (pp. 108 – 123). New York7 West Publishing Co. Evans, B. J., Coman, G. J., & Stanley, R. O. (1992). The police personality: Type A behavior and trait anxiety. Journal of Criminal Justice, 20, 429 – 441. Fell, R. D., Richard, W. C., & Wallace, W. L. (1980). Psychological job stress and the police officer. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 8, 139 – 143. Gaines, L., Southerland, M., Angell, J., & Worrall, J. L. (2003). Police administration (2nd ed.). New York7 McGraw-Hill. Graf, F. A. (1986). The relationship between social support and occupational stress among police officers. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 14, 178 – 186. Harpold, J. A., & Feemster, S. L. (2002, September). Negative influences of police stress. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 71(9), 1 – 6. Hoath, D. R., Schneider, F. W., & Starr, M. W. (1998). Police job satisfaction as a function of career orientation and position tenure: Implications for selection and community policing. Journal of Criminal Justice, 26, 337 – 347. Hoffer, W. (1986, December). A new focus on drugs. Nation’s Business, 74, 57 – 59. Lawrence, R. A. (1984). Police stress and personality factors: A conceptual model. Journal of Criminal Justice, 12, 247 – 263. Linkins, J. R. (1997, May). FBI academy: 25 years of law enforcement leadership. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 66(5), 1 – 12.
Malloy, T. E., & Mays, G. L. (1984). The police stress hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 11, 197 – 224. Martelli, T., Waters, L., & Martelli, J. (1989). The police stress survey: Reliability and relation to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Psychological Reports, 64, 267 – 273. Morris, S. E. (1985, June). Apprehending the fugitive: The U.S. Marshals strike back. Police Chief, 52, 34 – 36. Norvell, N., Belles, D., & Hills, H. (1988). Perceived stress levels and physical symptoms in supervisory law enforcement personnel. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 16, 75 – 79. Patterson, B. L. (1992, September). Job experience and perceived stress among police, correctional, and probation/parole officers. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 19, 260 – 285. Pendleton, M., Stotland, E., Spiers, P., & Kirsch, E. (1989, June). Stress and strain among police, firefighters, and government workers. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 16, 196 – 210. Reese, J. (1986). Policing the violent society: The American experience. Stress Medicine, 2, 233 – 240. Reiser, M., & Geiger, S. P. (1984). Police officer as victim. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 15, 315 – 323. Selye, H. (1980). Stress without distress. New York7 Lippincott. Sigler, R. T., & Wilson, C. N. (1988). Stress in the work place: Comparing police stress with teacher stress. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 16, 151 – 162. Sigler, R. T., Wilson, C. N., & Allen, Z. (1991). Police stress and teacher stress at work and at home. Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, 361 – 370. Slate, R. N. (1997). The federal witness protection program: Its evolution and continuing growing pains. Criminal Justice Ethics, 16, 20 – 35. Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P. R., & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for adults. Redwood City, CA7 Mind Garden, Inc. Stanton, M. (1985, Fall). The secret sentinels: Careers in intelligence. Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 29, 2 – 14. Storch, J. E., & Panzarella, R. (1996). Police stress: Statetrait anxiety in relation to occupational and personal stressors. Journal of Criminal Justice, 24, 99 – 107. Stotland, E. (1991). The effects of police work and professional relationships on health. Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, 371 – 379. Stutler, T. R. (2000). Stealing secrets solved. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 69, 11 – 17. Swanson, C. R., Territo, L., & Taylor, R. W. (1998). Stress and police personnel. Police administration: Structures, processes, and behavior (4th ed., pp. 297–326). Englewood Cliffs, NJ7 Prentice Hall. Swanton, B. (1980). Stress in the police service. Federal Police Journal, 6, 20 – 26. Territo, L., & Vetter, H. J. (1981). Stress and police personnel. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 9, 195 – 208.
D.W. Newman, M. Leeanne Rucker-Reed / Journal of Criminal Justice 32 (2004) 631–641 Terry, W. C., III (1981). Police stress: The empirical evidence. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 9, 61 – 75. Terry, W. C., III (1983). Police stress as an individual and administrative problem: Some conceptual and theoretical difficulties. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 11, 156 – 165. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2003, August). Federal law enforcement officers, 2002 (NCJ 199995). Washington, DC7 U.S. Department of Justice. Violanti, J. M. (1983). Stress patterns in police work: A longitudinal study. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 11, 211 – 216.
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Violanti, J. M. (1992). Police retirement: The impact of change. Springfield, IL7 Charles C. Thomas. Violanti, J. M., & Aron, F. (1993). Sources of police stressors, job attitudes, and psychological distress. Psychological Reports, 72, 899 – 904. Violanti, J. M., & Aron, F. (1995). Police stressors: Variations in perception among police personnel. Journal of Criminal Justice, 23, 287 – 294. Violanti, J. M., & Marshall, J. R. (1983). The police stress process. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 11, 389 – 394.
Police stress, state-trait anxiety, and stressors among U.S. Marshals Deborah Wilkins Newman*, M. LeeAnne Rucker-Reed Department of Criminal Justice, P.O. Box 238, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, United States
Abstract Unlike previous studies on stress in local police officers, this study was unique in that it used Deputy U.S. Marshals as the population pool. This study replicated the study conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996) who determined stress levels and stressors of police officers. A standardized inventory of stress was combined with a questionnaire about job stressors, individual job and career variables, and personal variables. One hundred Deputy U.S. Marshals from offices across the country responded to an anonymous survey. Generally, deputies scored low on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983). The main stressors identified by the respondents were related to organizational variables, i.e., problems with management, bad bosses, and work environment. More stress was experienced by deputies who were inclined to think about job-related illnesses or being injured while on duty, those who were facing retirement, and those who disliked their current assignments. D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction For more than fifty years, people studied stress and its effects on various individuals, and for almost as long, researchers attempted to explain why police officers appeared to suffer from an inordinate amount of stress. Some of these studies focused on aspects of the job to determine the cause of the stress without going beyond the normal understanding of the word (Fell, Richard, & Wallace, 1980; Malloy & Mays, 1984; Pendleton, Stotland, Spiers, & Kirsch, 1989). Other studies provided their own definitions of stress. Some studies referred
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 615 898 5707; fax: +1 615 898 5159. E-mail address: [email protected] (D.W. Newman).
to stress as a non-specific response of the body to any demand placed on it (Harpold & Feemster, 2002; Lawrence, 1984; Swanson, Territo, & Taylor, 1998), while other studies defined stress as a response to different internal and external demands of life (Harpold & Feemster, 2002). One study labeled stress as the body’s reaction to internal and external stimuli that upset the body’s normal state, in which the stimuli might be physical, mental, or emotional (Dempsey, 1994). Storch and Panzarella (1996) stated that tension related to a specific stressor was what one would normally refer to as stress; however, when tension did not have an immediately identifiable stimulus, it was usually referred to as anxiety. Even with the numerous definitions and explanations of stress, it could still be quite difficult to study because of the ambiguous effect on an individual largely due to the fact that
0047-2352/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2004.08.003
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any one factor could be either a positive stressor termed eustress or a negative stressor termed distress (Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Swanson et al., 1998). When studying stress, most researchers typically utilized only local level police officers in their research. They had not attempted to determine what stressors, if any, affected federal law enforcement officers. Much of the literature addressed the purpose and the duties of a specific federal agency, but did not explore how the stressors of that job affected the individual federal officers or agents (Hoffer, 1986; Linkins, 1997; Slate, 1997; Stanton, 1985; Stutler, 2000). Among those studies, only a few focused on the U.S. Marshals Service, and those dealt only with explaining aspects of the job (Caudell-Feagan, 1993; Morris, 1985; Slate, 1997). Prior to this study, no research was conducted to empirically determine if U.S. Marshals experienced the same stressors as found to be experienced by local law enforcement officers. Consequently, this study was needed to provide valuable feedback for the administration of federal and local law enforcement agencies, in general, and for the administration of the U.S. Marshal Service specifically. To accomplish this purpose, this study used the U.S. Marshal Service as the population and replicated prior research on police officer stress conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996).
Identifying law enforcement stressors It was stated that police work was more stressful than most other occupations, and that the stress was caused by inherent dangers of the job such as repeated encounters with violent people, the risk of being assaulted with a deadly weapon, and the possibility of being seriously injured, even killed (Dempsey, 1994; Fell et al., 1980; Lawrence, 1984; Reiser & Geiger, 1984; Swanson et al., 1998). The belief that these encounters were the primary cause of stress continued to prevail throughout the literature even though empirical evidence was insufficient to support this position (Lawrence, 1984; Malloy & Mays, 1984; Terry, 1981). Malloy and Mays (1984) defined the problems associated with identifying police stressors as stemming bfrom a priori assumptions regarding the stressors inherent in police workQ (p. 207). They summarized much of the literature as suggesting that the impending threat of physical harm and involvement in violent situations were the major police stressors. They noted, however, that the strongest research in the area actually suggested, bthat helplessness and feelings of uncontrollability in the work environment may be a major source of stress for police officersQ (p. 207). As summarized by
Lawrence (1984), such findings did not diminish the dangers faced by police officers, but those factors over which the officer had little personal control, such as work schedules and the administration, proved to be most stressful. Adding to the difficulty in identifying job stressors, police officers themselves described their work as being more potentially dangerous than actually dangerous (Cullen, Link, Travis, & Lemming, 1983). Contributing to the confusion, the crime fighter orientation and mentality of the officer could nullify the stress that might otherwise be engendered by police work (Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Stotland, 1991). In addition, it was suggested that the excitement of the occasional encounter with violence might even mitigate some of the stress caused by organizational variables (Crank & Caldero, 1991). The quest of many researchers over the past couple of decades was to eliminate the confusion surrounding police stressors by empirically identifying them. In order to provide a definitional basis for the research, some studies arranged the specific factors that led to stress into four basic categories: organizational practices, the criminal justice system, the public, and the police work itself (Reese, 1986; Swanson et al., 1998; Territo & Vetter, 1981; Violanti & Aron, 1993). Other studies narrowed the factors down to two major categories based on the job stressors mentioned by officers: organizational and inherent police stressors (Martelli, Waters, & Martelli, 1989; Swanson et al., 1998; Violanti & Aron, 1995). Organizational practices were defined as those events precipitated by the administration that were bothersome to the officers, while inherent factors were defined as those events generally occurring in police work which could be harmful to the officers, i.e., danger, violence, and crime (Violanti & Aron, 1993). When comparing the two stressors, researchers generally concluded that the organizational stressors had a stronger impact overall on officers than the inherent factors (Graf, 1986; Martelli et al., 1989; Norvell, Belles, & Hills, 1988; Violanti & Aron, 1995). Storch and Panzarella (1996) studied the proposed categories and observed that two main groups seemed to develop from among the categories. They found that one of the main groups of stressors included the organizational variables, i.e., relationships with superiors, personnel policies, and work conditions. Storch and Panzarella (1996) added that among the organizational stressors in police work were the lack of promotional opportunity and, ironically, an actual promotion. The second major group of stressors consisted of relationships with those who were not police officers, i.e., the public, the media, and the legal system.
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Other studies focused on different types of stress factors. Norvell et al. (1988) found that the law enforcement supervisor often experienced conflicting pressures and responsibilities from both subordinates and management heightening their perceived stress while they also experienced many of the same factors that contributed to stress in the line officer. Still other studies supported that impending retirement also appeared to lead to stress, which led to the conclusion that leaving police work might be just as stressful as being in police work (Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Violanti, 1992).
Effects of stress on police officers Some studies focused on how police officers dealt with stress and how stress affected their personalities. A study by Violanti and Marshall (1983) looked at the relationship among occupational stressors, individual stress, and coping strategies, and concluded that the officers responded either psychologically or behaviorally to the pressure of police work by becoming cynical and/or deviant. Evans, Coman, and Stanley (1992) studied whether or not differences existed between the temperaments and behaviors of groups of police officers with different lengths of service, and found that certain personality traits, such as suspiciousness, aloofness, cynicism, and authoritarianism did develop or become stronger over time as the officers became more skilled and experienced at dealing with their work duties and stressors. Dempsey (1994) studied personality traits common to most police officers, i.e., authoritarianism, suspicion, racism, hostility, insecurity, conservatism, and cynicism, and found that this cluster of traits was shaped by constant exposure to danger and the need to use force and/or authority to control threatening situations. Variables of an officer’s job and individual differences undoubtedly contribute to a greater understanding of police stress (Lawrence, 1984). Violanti (1983) examined how certain patterns of stress developed throughout an officer’s time on the job, and discovered that police officers seemed to go through four transitory stages during their careers: (1) the alarm stage (zero to five years), (2) the disenchantment stage (six to thirteen years), (3) the personalization stage (fourteen to twenty years), and (4) the introspection stage (twenty-plus years). He concluded that these stages affected the officer’s perception of stress and that stress itself was not a consistent factor in police work, but varied according to the perception of the officer at the different stages in their career. Another study found that job satisfaction seemed to promote lower stress levels
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and, accordingly, fewer symptoms of stress (Hoath, Schneider, & Starr, 1998). Job satisfaction itself appeared to be affected by two variables: individual characteristics, such as the career orientations of officers and their tenure in the organization, and workplace characteristics, such as the officer’s actual assignment. Some researchers opted to study the various effects that stress had on the health of police officers. In a review of the literature on police stress, Terry (1983) counted thirty-five physiological effects of job-related stressors including virtually every ailment from headaches and sinus attacks to shrinking thalmuses, spastic colons, and grinding teeth. He further noted that the main ailments found among police officers were digestive disorders, respiratory problems, and cardiovascular diseases. Similarly, Territo and Vetter (1981) found that stressors could have many different effects on a police officer’s personality, health, job performance, and home life. They asserted that the long-term response to stress could manifest itself several ways: (1) in one’s personality as chronic depression, alienation, or alcoholism; (2) in one’s health as ulcers, high blood pressure, or diabetes; (3) in one’s job performance as decreased productivity, job dissatisfaction, or slower reaction time; and (4) in one’s home life as divorce, social isolation, or loss of friends. Swanson et al. (1998) determined that stress produced varied psychological disturbances, physiological disorders, and emotional instabilities.
Measuring stress in police officers Various studies made use of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory in conducting studies on police officer stress (Spielberger et al., 1983). This inventory was a standardized test that measured anxiety as it related to present circumstances—state anxiety, and anxiety that was ingrained in one’s personality—trait anxiety. The state anxiety scale evaluated many essential qualities, such as feelings of apprehension, tension, nervousness, and worry, and determined how the person felt bright now, at this momentQ (p. 6). Additionally, it could be used to examine how one felt at a specific time in the recent past or how one might feel in a future situation. The scores on the state scale bincrease in response to physical danger and psychological stress and decrease as a result of relaxation trainingQ (p. 6). The trait anxiety scale consists of statements that assess how people bgenerallyQ feel, and it examines, bdifferences between people in the tendency to perceive stressful situations as dangerous or threateningQ (Spielberger et al., 1983, p. 5). It can also
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reflect the bindividual differences in the frequency and intensityQ (p. 5) with which these states were manifested in the past or will be experienced in the future. Basically, the stronger the trait anxiety, the more likely a person will demonstrate more intense elevations in state anxiety in a threatening situation. Scores for both scales, the state anxiety and the trait anxiety, can vary from a minimum of 20 indicating low anxiety to a maximum of 80 indicating high anxiety. Individual or group scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory are given meaning by comparing the scores to published norms for comparable groups or by correlating the scores with life events or situations (Spielberger et al., 1983). Using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Bergen and Bartol (1983) conducted a study of police officers, and reported a mean score of 34.5 for trait anxiety, but found two mean scores for state anxiety: (1) 32.36 immediately before beginning a shift, and (2) 37.93 at the end of a shift. These scores indicated that, prior to starting work, officers did not seem to exhibit high levels of stress. At the end of the day, the higher scores revealed that they experienced some stress during their shift. Territo and Vetter (1981) determined that it was quite apparent some stress factors were unique to policing, while others were comparable to the sorts of stress encountered in other occupations and professions. Pendleton et al. (1989) compared police officers to both firefighters and municipal workers, and in utilizing the Inventory; they found that the mean scores for police officers of 34.1 for state anxiety and 32.0 for trait anxiety were higher than the firefightersT scores but lower than the non-emergency municipal workersT scores. Two studies compared police officers and teachers; however, they arrived at mixed and inconclusive findings (Sigler & Wilson, 1988; Sigler, Wilson, & Allen, 1991). Patterson (1992) found that, while police officers reported more stress than probation and parole officers, they actually reported less stress than corrections officers. These studies comparing policing to other occupations indicated that while police work did seem to be a stressful profession, it was not found to be the most stressful of the occupations, as some might tend to believe. Another study, which only tested the trait anxiety, showed officers with six to eleven years of service had the highest mean score of 35.7, officers with less than six years had a mean score of 35.5, and officers with twelve or more years had the lowest mean score of 32.7 (Evans et al., 1992). These values indicated that those who chose to remain in police work throughout their careers eventually adapted to the job-related stressors and experienced a decrease in
their stress levels. Furthermore, once it was taken into account that the normative scores for working males, in general, nineteen to thirty-nine years old were 36.54 for state anxiety and 35.55 for trait anxiety, it appeared that the average levels of state and trait anxiety for police officers were not very high when compared to other professions or even other individuals (Storch & Panzarella, 1996). Storch and Panzarella (1996) focused on specific assignments, critical points in the career, and other particular aspects of police stress. In their study, they found that the key stressors in police work were organizational factors, i.e., work conditions, conflicts with superiors. They also determined that age, education, marital status, and retirement expectations were not related to anxiety scores; however, there was more state anxiety found to be associated with officers who had fewer children, less time on the job, less time in their current assignment, and a younger retirement age. Moreover, they also noted a correlation between trait anxiety and how often an officer thought about injury while on duty. Given the obscure nature of some potential stressors, Storch and Panzarella (1996) identified stress factors without being suggestive by asking open-ended questions, such as what officers liked and disliked about both police work in general and about their specific assignments.
Comparing stress in local law enforcement to federal agencies Even though most researchers agreed that officers did experience many stress-related problems in their work, many researchers argued that police work was not adequately compared to other occupations (Gaines, Southerland, Angell, & Worrall, 2003; Terry, 1983; Violanti & Aron, 1995). Those who endeavored to study stress, and its effect on police officers, typically utilized local level officers and had not ventured to find out what stressors, if any, affected federal law enforcement officers. Much of the literature dealing with federal agencies explored the purpose and/or the duties of a specific federal agency. Stanton (1985) discussed the roles and purposes of different occupations within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). In another article, Stutler (2000) elaborated on how the FBI dealt with espionage. Hoffer (1986) discussed the drug problem that faced the country and the efforts made by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to eliminate this problem. Linkins (1997) focused on the FBI Acad-
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emy and how it played a role in training agents for both the FBI and the DEA. Of those articles that elaborated on a federal agency for their topic, only a small minority of them focused on the U.S. Marshals Service. Morris (1985) discussed the U.S. Marshal’s role in apprehending fugitives. He described some of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) operations and how they targeted areas of the country where information indicated the existence of a large number of federal and non-federal fugitives. In addition, Slate (1997) examined the Federal Witness Security Program, which was operated by the U.S. Marshals Service. He explored its costs and effectiveness along with its benefits and pitfalls. CaudellFeagan (1993) addressed the area of detaining federal prisoners as being a U.S. Marshals function necessary for the successful operation of the federal judicial process.
Objectives and hypotheses Although a few studies explained some of the integral parts of the U.S. Marshals Service, no studies were conducted to empirically determine if U.S. Marshals experienced the same stressors as local level officers. This oversight left a significant group of law enforcement without valuable data useful in the management and administration of its agencies. Since it was known that stress could lead to varied psychological disturbances, organic diseases, emotional instability, and physiological disorders, beven a superficial review of the human, organizational, and legal impacts of stress-related health problems should sensitize every administrator toward the prevention, treatment, and solution of these problemsQ (Swanson et al., 1998, p. 301). Providing basic information in this area for the U.S. Marshals Service, and for federal law enforcement in general, was therefore a major reason for this research. Toward this endeavor, this study essentially replicated the study conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996), except that they studied police officers while this research utilized Deputy U.S. Marshals. Accordingly, the hypotheses for this study were similar to their hypotheses. First, they hypothesized that the principal negative stressors would be organizational factors and relationships with outsiders, instead of potential violence or exposure to human misery. Second, they hypothesized that the amount of anxiety experienced by police officers would not differ significantly from adult normative samples. Third, they determined which anxiety levels could be related to specific occupational and personal variables, such as the
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particular stressors listed by the respondents, their assignments, their injuries, their career development, and their demographics. These three hypotheses of Storch and Panzarella’s study were adopted in this study.
Method All the data were collected through anonymous questionnaires. Replicating the Storch and Panzarella study (1996), the demographic data included age, gender, education, marital status, age upon joining the U.S. Marshals Service, number of years in law enforcement and in the present assignment, rank, promotional expectations, and retirement expectations. The survey included open-ended questions designed to determine the likes and dislikes of being a deputy in general and in the current assignment; frequency of thoughts concerning the possibility of injuries and illness while working; actual on-the-job injuries; and retirement expectations. In order to measure stress, all subjects also responded to the Spielberger et al.’s (1983) State Trait Anxiety Inventory. The surveys were mailed to a randomly selected group of 180 deputies who were located throughout the country. A letter was included with each questionnaire explaining that completion of the forms was to be done voluntarily and anonymously. The sample, representing the population of 2,692 full-time U.S. Marshals (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003), included deputies from numerous different cities, which varied in size from one of the largest, i.e., New York City, New York, to one of the smallest, i.e., Springfield, Illinois. Of those who were sent a survey, the overall response rate was 55 percent (exactly one hundred deputies) returning their questionnaires. The answers that were written for the openended questions regarding the likes and dislikes about being a deputy in general and about one’s present assignment were analyzed for their content, and categories were formulated from a sample of the responses. The same seventeen categories, including a category for bno answer,Q were used for classifying the likes about being a deputy and about one’s current assignment. Eighteen categories, including a bno answerQ category, were utilized for the dislikes about being a deputy and about one’s current assignment. Data were analyzed by determining the productmoment correlation coefficient (SPSS Version 11). Correlations (r) were computed between individual scores on stressors and the individual scores on the Spielberger et al.’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory.
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Results Eighty-two percent of the responding subjects were male and 18 percent were female, closely representing the actual 88 percent male and 12 percent female population of the U.S. Marshals Service (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003). The largest age group was thirty-one to thirty-five years with 40 percent of respondents falling into this category. The education levels ranged from 2 percent having a high school diploma to 7 percent having a master’s degree; however, the majority, 57 percent of deputies had a bachelor’s degree. Nineteen percent were single, 14 percent were divorced, and 67 percent were married at the time they filled out the questionnaire. Sixty-four percent had at least one or more children. Job-related demographics revealed that 48 percent of those surveyed joined the U.S. Marshals Service between the ages of twenty-six and thirty. Even though 72 percent had less than ten years in the U.S. Marshals Service, 49 percent had been in law enforcement for more than eleven years. Fiftyseven percent had numerous different duties that they were assigned on a daily basis, while the more specialized positions included: (1) 20 percent assigned to the court squad, (2) 11 percent assigned to the warrant squad, (3) one deputy assigned to threat investigations, and (4) one other was a witness security inspector. Supervisory positions accounted for only 5 percent of respondents, which included four actual supervisors and one chief deputy; nevertheless, 33 percent felt that they would be promoted within the next three years. Forty-two
percent believed they would retire between the ages of fifty-four and fifty-seven; however, 59 percent planned on getting another job after they retired from the U.S. Marshals Service. More than half of those getting another job did not know what type it would be. Ninety-nine percent did think that retirement would be pleasant with only one person believing it would be boring. The responses concerning the likes and dislikes about being a deputy are reported in Table 1, and the items are listed in rank order along with the number of individuals citing each category. The most common blikeQ was the variety of work associated with being a Deputy U.S. Marshal with a 21.7 percent of the answers falling into this category. The two items that tied for second place were working warrants (arresting fugitives) and a good salary each with 11.8 percent of the responses, followed by job security with 10.5 percent. Management/administration was the bdislikeQ most mentioned by respondents with 38 percent of all the answers falling into this category. Bad bosses came in as a distant second with 23.7 percent citing this category, and tied at third place were bad colleagues and politicians each with 6 percent. When both management and bad bosses were combined, 62 percent of deputies disliked these items. The responses to what was liked and disliked about the current assignment are reported in Table 2. The items are listed in rank order along with the number citing each category. The most liked aspect of the current assignment was working warrants or arresting fugitives with 18.7 percent of responses. Second place consisted of a tie between the ease of
Table 1 Likes and dislikes about being a Deputy U.S. Marshal Rank
No.
Likes item
Rank
No.
Dislikes item
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 11 12 13 13 13 13 17
33 18 18 16 13 12 11 9 6 6 4 3 2 2 2 2 1
Variety Warrants, arresting fugitives Good salary Job security Authority, status Travel Co-workers Schedule, working hours Feeling of satisfaction No answer Ease of work Excitement Retirement benefits Respect Providing safety Good benefits Location, city
1 2 3 3 5 6 6 8 8 10 11 11 13 13 13 13
63 39 10 10 8 7 7 6 6 4 2 2 1 1 1 1
Management, administrators Bad bosses Politicians Bad colleagues U.S. Marshals Service policies Inadequate resources Nuisance tasks Court work Boredom No answer Poor pay Too much travel Poor schedule Public scrutiny Heavy workload Lack of respect
Note: Dislikes not mentioned in this section: too few personnel, danger, and fear.
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Table 2 Likes and dislikes about one’s current assignment Rank
No.
Likes item
Rank
No.
Dislikes item
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 12 12 14 14 14
23 16 16 15 12 11 9 7 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 2
Warrants, arresting fugitives Schedule, working hours Ease of work Variety Co-workers No answer Location, city Feeling of satisfaction Excitement Job security Good benefits Authority, status Good salary Travel Respect Providing safety
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11 11 14 14 14
20 18 18 16 14 11 10 9 6 4 3 3 3 1 1 1
No answer Court work Nuisance tasks Boredom Bad bosses Management, administrators Bad colleagues Inadequate resources Poor schedule Politicians Two few personnel Heavy workload Lack of respect Danger, fear Too much travel U.S. Marshals Service policies
Note: Dislikes not mentioned in this section: poor pay and public scrutiny.
the work and the schedule or hours, each with 13 percent, and close behind was the variety of their assignments with 12.2 percent. With respect to the dislikes about the current assignment, the highest ranked category was the one for bno answerQ with 14.5 percent of the answers. Court work and nuisance tasks tied for second place. Each had 13 percent of the responses, and not too far behind was boredom with 11.6 percent. The average scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were 33.6 on the state anxiety scale and 32.94 on the trait anxiety scale. Only the significant correlations between the anxiety scales and the other variables are shown in Table 3. Neither state nor trait anxiety was significantly related to age, gender, education, marital status, number of children, age of youngest child, years on the job, years in law enforcement, rank, years in position, expecting a promotion, getting a job after retirement, times actually injured, or times actually sick.
A significant negative correlation (r= .218, pb.05) was found between the age they expected to retire and the deputy’s state anxiety, and a slightly stronger negative correlation (r= .259, pb.01) was found to exist between the expected retirement age and their trait anxiety. Additionally, a deputy’s current assignment was determined to be negatively correlated with both state and trait anxiety (r= .208, pb.05 and r= .222, pb.05, respectively) (see Table 3). A significant positive correlation (r=.197, pb.05) was found to exist between how often one thought about injury and trait anxiety. Moreover, the frequency of thoughts about job-related illnesses was found to be positively correlated with both state and trait anxiety (r=.232, pb.05 and r=.231, pb.05, respectively). One other significant positive correlation (r=.2, pb.05) was determined to exist between what a deputy thought retirement would be like and state anxiety (see Table 3).
Table 3 Significant correlates of state and trait anxiety
Discussion
Variable Trait anxiety Age expected to retire What retirement is like Frequency of thoughts about being injured Frequency of thoughts about illness Current assignment * pb.05. ** pb.01.
State anxiety
Trait anxiety
.832** .218* .200* .103
.259** .186 .197*
.232*
.231*
.208*
.222*
Hypothesis 1. The principal negative stressors for U.S Marshals will be organizational factors and relationships with outsiders, instead of potential violence or exposure to human misery. The first hypothesis of this study was confirmed and was consistent with the research conclusions drawn by Storch and Panzarella (1996) regarding police officer stress. The major stressors for Deputy U.S. Marshals were found to be those things associated with organizational factors, such as prob-
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lems with management, bad bosses, and the work environment, instead of those issues related to risk of bodily harm or encounters with violence and human misery. When these results were compared to and combined with the findings of other studies that utilized local police officers as their subject group (Graf, 1986; Lawrence, 1984; Norvell et al., 1988; Sigler & Wilson, 1988; Sigler et al., 1991; Storch & Panzarella, 1996; Swanton, 1980; Violanti & Aron, 1995), there was a considerable consensus that the principal sources of stress in law enforcement work were, in fact, the organizational variables and relationships with non-police. Additionally, when the responses to the open-ended questions were examined more closely, the answers indicated that the deputies actually wanted to put themselves at risk in the performance of their duties. Since working warrants (arresting fugitives) was the number one answer for likes about current assignment and the number two answer for likes about the U.S. Marshals Service in general, it could be concluded that the risks associated with chasing criminals, i.e., encounters with violence or human misery and possible bodily harm or death, were not stressors but were actually duties that were enjoyed and, possibly, even sought out by deputies. These findings corresponded with the research findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) and others (Crank & Caldero, 1991; Stotland, 1991) that the excitement of the occasional encounter with violence might mitigate or even nullify the stress caused by organizational variables or other stressors engendered by police work. As explained by Hans Selye (1980), a prominent researcher on stress and its effects, doing what one enjoyed or experiencing positive stress (eustress) could reduce an individual’s level of negative stress (distress). Hypothesis 2. The amount of anxiety experienced by U.S. Marshals will not differ significantly from adult normative samples. The second hypothesis that the anxiety levels of U.S. Marshals would not differ significantly from adult normative samples was confirmed, paralleling the findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) on police officer stress. In actuality, the state anxiety mean of 33.6 and the trait anxiety mean of 32.94 found in this study with U.S. Marshals were slightly lower than the published norms for working males ages nineteen to thirty-nine, which were 36.54 for state anxiety and 35.55 for trait anxiety (Spielberger et al., 1983). These results on U.S. Marshals stress levels were similar to research findings that compared police officer stress levels to stress levels experienced by workers in other occupations in which levels of police officer stress were found not
to significantly differ from some other occupations (Patterson, 1992; Pendleton et al., 1989; Territo & Vetter, 1981). Hypothesis 3. Anxiety levels of U.S. Marshals will be significantly related to some specific occupational and personal variables, and will not be significantly related to other variables. Significant relationships were found to exist between anxiety levels and some occupational and personal variables of U.S. Marshals, while no significant relationships were found between other variables. No relationship was found to exist between education and anxiety for U.S. Marshals. Similarly, Storch and Panzarella (1996) found no significant relationship between education and anxiety levels for police officers. Crank, Regoli, Hewitt, and Culbertson (1993), however, found a different result among police executives. They concluded that higher stress levels were related to lower education levels among the higher echelons of local law enforcement. This study did not address the bexecutiveQ levels of U.S. Marshals; therefore, further research is needed to determine if the results would be similar for U.S. Marshals in upper management. Additionally, for U.S. Marshals neither state nor trait anxiety was significantly related to age, gender, marital status, number of children, age of youngest child, years on the job, years in law enforcement, rank, years in current assignment, expecting a promotion, getting a job after retirement, times actually injured, or times actually sick. Storch and Panzarella (1996) found similar non-significant results for police officers for the same variables except they found higher state anxiety associated with officers who had fewer children, fewer years on the job, and fewer years in the current assignment. This difference between U.S. Marshals and police officers with these variables could be due to the interactive effects of younger ages in these police officer groups since bentry agesQ for U.S. Marshals were generally bolderQ than in local law enforcement. Further study is needed to adequately address the reasons for this difference. A positive correlation was found between state anxiety and what deputies thought retirement would be like. Although 99 percent of deputies thought that retirement would be pleasant, this finding seemed to indicate that the idea of leaving law enforcement could be as much of a stressor as actually being in law enforcement. This was similar to the findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) and Violanti (1992) who found that leaving police work was as stressful as being in police work.
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A positive correlation was also determined to exist between how often U.S. Marshals thought about injury and their trait anxiety, which was similar to the results found among police officers in the study conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996). Since the trait anxiety scale measured anxiety that was embedded within an individual’s personality, this finding tended to show that deputies had a personality trait that led them to worry about getting injured while on duty, thus, creating a stressor for them. Whether or not this trait existed prior to becoming a deputy, or it was something that developed while on the job, was not determined by this study. Perhaps, this is an area that should be explored by other studies in the future since specific research was lacking in this area. Another positive correlation was found to exist between both state and trait anxiety and how often U.S. Marshals thought about job-related illnesses, which again was somewhat similar to the research results on police officer stress conducted by Storch and Panzarella (1996). This result was not surprising, although no other prior research specifically addressed this law enforcement detail. Considering the fact that most deputies came in contact with prisoners on a daily basis either on the street, in court, or in a holding cell, and on any given day there was at least one or more that had some kind of highly contagious and/or life threatening illness, then it was easy to see why deputies worried about job-related illnesses, which in turn became a stress factor that led to higher anxiety levels. Since the number of actual illnesses or injuries did not have any significant correlation with either state or trait anxiety, these correlations led to the conclusion that a perceived potential problem tended to create more stress for deputies than an actual problem. Similar to the findings of Storch and Panzarella (1996) on police officers, a negative correlation was found between state and trait anxiety and the age when a U.S. Marshal expected to retire, which indicated that those deputies who intended to retire at a younger age seemed to have more stress. A probable explanation was that since they were leaving their occupation at an earlier age, they would most likely be getting another job before they could fully retire and begin collecting their retirement benefits, thereby creating more anxiety for them. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between the U.S. Marshal’s current assignment and both state and trait anxiety. Based on the analysis of the data, those deputies who were assigned to the court squad were found to have the highest anxiety levels, while those who had either a more specialized job or a variety of jobs were found to have
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less stress. Since as shown in both Tables 1 and 2 that the bmost likedQ aspects of their job were the variety and working warrants, it was understandable that these items would not be the cause of their stress. As indicated in Tables 1, 2, and 3, a U.S. Marshal’s stress seemed to be the result of organizational variables, i.e., relationships with superiors and work conditions, not the specific responsibilities of the job itself.
Conclusion Storch and Panzarella (1996) stated, bIt is undeniable that police work includes moments of very high stress, even terror, but these moments are rareQ (p. 106). They further expounded that most workdays passed without dramatic events; however, when these significant events did occur, they were often experienced as eustress, or positive stressors, by officers who enjoyed the excitement of the job. This explanation seemed to apply to U.S. Marshals as well. The results of this study supported, in general, that deputies experienced similar levels of stress and responded similarly to the same types of stressors as police officers. Furthermore, like police officers, deputies seemed to enjoy performing certain duties, such as chasing criminals and risking their life, tasks that much of the general population would consider very stressful. The variables found to be associated with stress in Deputy U.S. Marshals, like that in local law enforcement, were directly related to organizational variables, such as problems with management, bad bosses, and the working environment. Also similar to local law enforcement, the inherent dangers of the job and encounters with human misery were not among the stress factors for deputies. The main difference between this study and the Storch and Panzarella study (1996) on police officers was that one of the major dislikes for local officers was their work schedule, which included rotating shifts. Work schedules were not an issue for deputies, perhaps because they, unlike local law enforcement, generally only worked regular daytime hours and not on weekends. The findings from this study could prove very useful to the supervisory personnel within the U.S. Marshals Service and for federal law enforcement agencies in general. Supervisors could utilize this information to improve the working relationship between management and deputies or agents. The knowledge could be used to create a better working environment and to reduce stress levels, thereby providing a more efficient and effective law enforcement agency for everyone. Further study is needed to
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provide law enforcement officers and supervisors with the best techniques for mitigating stressors within the agency and to reduce stress levels within individuals. Also, due to the differences among federal law enforcement agencies, additional research replicating this study could provide useful information for other federal agencies.
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