Stress, decision-making style, and self-perceived enforcement abilities among police officers
Maria Irimciuc, Cornelia Măirean
This study examined the relations among stress, decision-making style and self-perceived enforcement abilities, respectively detecting, detaining and intercepting vehicles whose drivers are driving while intoxicated, among police officers. A sample of 108 police officers (Mage = 34.10 years, SD = 7,73, 76,9% men) was involved in the present study. The results showed that avoidant decision-making style was positively related to stress intensity and stress frequency from the last month. Moreover, detecting abilities are negatively related to stress intensity, stress frequency from the last month, and PTSD symptomatology, while detaining ability subscale and detaining and intercepting ability were negatively related only with stress frequency from the last month. The outcomes are connected with a list of recommendations aiming to improve the activity of police officers when they are conducting sobriety checkpoints for detecting, detaining, and intercepting those vehicles whose drivers are driving while intoxicated (educational actions, police training). Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Occupational stress, Post-traumatic stress, Decision-making style, Self-perceived enforcement abilities, Road safety
Cornelia Măirean – Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, Romania, E-mail: cornelia.mairean@uaic.ro
Maria Irimciuc – Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania
