Evaluating Predictors and Outcomes of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization for Women Officers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the predictors and consequences of two dimensions of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization, among 1,531 women officers serving in 83 law enforcement agencies. Studying burnout is vital to building support systems that can help women thrive in law enforcement. The findings show that a substantial number of women officers experience exhaustion and depersonalization and that reducing job demands, discrimination, and tokenism are critically important to reducing burnout. The results also highlight the potentially detrimental consequences of burnout, particularly depersonalization, on attitudes about misconduct and physical force, as well as commitment to the organization. We conclude by discussing how organizations can reduce burnout among women officers by changing policies and practices to place a concern for diversity and equality for women at the center of police culture.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• gender organizational theory
• law enforcement
• policing
• stress

Notes

1 The move to studying burnout instead of stress is partly a response to the mixed empirical support for unidimensional stress models in policing. That is, officers who should experience high levels of stress, such as narcotic officers or detectives investigating homicides, often do not report high levels of stress. This may be due to self-selection, occupational socialization, or the career trajectory (i.e., officers may only serve in high-stress positions for a limited time). In general, studying burnout is a way of getting around the complex and perplexing stress model and directly identify those officers who manifest the symptoms of unmanaged stress, and to provide additional support and resources.