NCJ Number
99887
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1985) Pages: 173-186
Date Published
1985
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article describes a study of 119 Australasian police officers in regard to their self-actualization, quality of work experience and experience of stress.
Abstract
Officers were asked to complete the Personal Orientation Inventory which measures self-actualization and questionnaires on stress symptoms, level of concern over recent life situations and quality of work experience. As predicted, the results indicate that officers high in stress symptoms were lower in self-actualization. Stress symptom scores correlated negatively with the self-actualization scales of time competency, inner directedness, self-acceptance and capacity for intimate contact. Time competence was the major dimension that differentiated low and high stress groups, indicating that those officers who are preoccupied with the past or future rather than living their lives in the present are most likely to be high in stress symptoms. Time competency also correlated with the officers' quality of work experience suggesting that those officers high in time competency rate their work situations better than those low in time competency. Self-actualization did not correlate with concern over recent stress situations. Path analysis of the data suggests that, regardless of the level of self-actualization, police officers still experience concern over stress situations which then leads to symptoms of stress. However, self-actualization will lessen the degree of stress symptoms. The low level of self-actualization in these senior police administrators as well as the relationship of self-actualization to stress is discussed. The relevance of these findings for the police organization is also considered. (Publisher abstract)