Stress and coping of police officers in the South African Police Service

Abstract

Working in the police service can be physically and emotionally demanding. Officers use various coping methods to deal with the stressors. The main aim of this study was to investigate which coping responses are used most by police officers in the South African Police Service and to investigate how the prevalence of these coping responses changes over time. A longitudinal approach was used where data were collected at three different points in time. The final sample (n = 120) was used for this study. The results indicate that police officers predominantly use planful problem-solving, positive reappraisal, and confrontive coping to deal with their daily stress. Planful problem-solving and positive reappraisal are seen as adaptive ways of dealing with stress, while the outcomes of confrontive coping are context dependent. The coping responses of seeking social support, escape avoidance, and accepting responsibility were used less frequently. The results indicate that coping styles change over time as police officers accepted significantly less responsibility, made less use of confrontive coping, and relied more on planful problem-solving, positive reappraisal, and escape avoidance. The findings of this study have important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of stress of active police officers. It is recommended that interventions such as emotional competence training be used to reinforce and refresh positive coping strategies to enhance the emotional well-being of police officers.