Burnout and violent victimization in police officers: a dual process model
Published online on November 21, 2016
Abstract
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Volume 39, Issue 4, Page 652-666, November 2016.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between burnout and violent victimization in terms of physical assaults in patrol police officers. A burnout-victimization model is proposed assuming emotional exhaustion and depersonalization to be associated with violent victimization via different mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach The study entails a cross-sectional survey of 1,742 German patrol police officers who reported 4,524 police encounters. The paper employs a binary logistic multilevel structural equation modeling approach to test the proposed model. Findings In line with the hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was found to reduce police officers’ self-protecting behavior, which in turn heightened their risk of victimization. Depersonalization was positively linked to a favorable attitude toward violence, which was linked to violent victimization but only to a small extent. Further analyses yielded an additional direct pathway from emotional exhaustion to victimization. Research limitations/implications The main limitations include the cross-sectional design of the study and the lack of including police officers’ own aggressive and violent behavior. Multimethod studies also using observational data of police-citizen interactions would be desirable in future studies. Originality/value This study is one of the first investigating the burnout-victimization link in police officers. By proposing and examining two different pathways, it further enhances the understanding of the underlying mechanisms.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between burnout and violent victimization in terms of physical assaults in patrol police officers. A burnout-victimization model is proposed assuming emotional exhaustion and depersonalization to be associated with violent victimization via different mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach The study entails a cross-sectional survey of 1,742 German patrol police officers who reported 4,524 police encounters. The paper employs a binary logistic multilevel structural equation modeling approach to test the proposed model. Findings In line with the hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was found to reduce police officers’ self-protecting behavior, which in turn heightened their risk of victimization. Depersonalization was positively linked to a favorable attitude toward violence, which was linked to violent victimization but only to a small extent. Further analyses yielded an additional direct pathway from emotional exhaustion to victimization. Research limitations/implications The main limitations include the cross-sectional design of the study and the lack of including police officers’ own aggressive and violent behavior. Multimethod studies also using observational data of police-citizen interactions would be desirable in future studies. Originality/value This study is one of the first investigating the burnout-victimization link in police officers. By proposing and examining two different pathways, it further enhances the understanding of the underlying mechanisms.