Associations Between Major Life Events, Traumatic Incidents, and Depression Among Buffalo Police Officers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Fekedulegn D ; Hartley TA ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  Police officers are considered to be a highly stressed population due to the nature of the work they perform. Repeated exposures to work stress and stressful life events can affect one's psychological and physiological well-being. The objective of this study was to determine whether negative life events and traumatic police incidents are associated with depression in police officers. One hundred randomly selected urban officers completed a series of self-report measures as part of a cross-sectional pilot study. Using four negative life event categories (none, low, medium, and high) a J-shaped pattern was observed with mean depression scores (+/- SD) of 9.26 (+/- 7.41), 6.21 (+/- 5.94), 8.17 (+/- 7.42), and 14.64 (+/- 8.04), respectively (test for linear trend p = 0.0186). Adjustment for age (p = 0.0209), then age, gender and ethnicity together (p = 0.0184) did not alter this pattern appreciably. No association between traumatic police incidents and depression was observed. Results indicate that exposure to multiple negative life events is significantly associated with elevated depression scores among this sample. Police agencies should consider developing psychological assistance efforts to help affected officers cope with these events and deal with depression. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Epidemiology Law Enforcement Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Police Officers BCOPS Depression Emergency-responders Life Events Mental Health Police-officers Psychological-effects Psychological-stress Traumatic Incidents
• ISSN:
  1522-4821
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  25-35
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032497
• Citation:
  Int J Emerg Mental Health 2007 Winter; 9(1):25-35
• Contact Point Address:
  Tara A. Hartley, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
• Email:
  THartley@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19980930
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Emergency Mental Health
• End Date:
  20000929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2b1837c0951701bdcd788b0151ef131c76c9d2219e475d190e7cf7247be84c6ca23888bfcefea564b09af1438bc9be5999018901c879e50067a20d5aaef04860
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186439/cdc_186439_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 242.76 KB ]