April - June 2010 - Bureau of Police Research and Development

A Study of Burnout and Marital Adjustment of Police PersonnelTable 2 represents that there is significant differenceof marital adjustment between male and female withthe calculated t-values as 5.00** (p>.01). Hence,the H7 accepted at .01 level.Figure 1: Relationship between burnout andmarital adjustment on overall basis.Table 2: Difference between burnout andmarital adjustment of male / female andsub inspectors /constables.Variables Groups N Mean S.D. t-valueBurnout Male 64 72.09 23.98 .21Female 64 73.00 21.82Sub- 64 70.69 24.45 .53inspectorConstable 64 74.40 22.17Maritaladjustment Male 64 220.45 64.91 5.00**Female 64 285.09 80.47Sub- 64 269.04 77.64 2.35*inspectorConstable 64 236.48 79.04**t-value is significant at the 0.01 level.*t-value is significant at the 0.05 level.Table 2 indicates that there is no significant differenceof burnout between male and female with thecalculated t-value as 0.21 (>.05). Thus, the H5rejected at .05 level.Table 2 represents that there is no significantdifference of burnout between sub-inspector andconstable with the calculated t-value as .53 (>.05).Hence, the formulated H6 has been rejected at .05level.Table 2 indicates that there is significant differenceof marital adjustment between sub-inspector andconstable with the calculated +-value as 2.35*(P>.05). Hence. H8 accepted at .01 level.DiscussionThe aim of the present research is to study thecorrelation between burnout and marital adjustmentof police personnel. Further the study was extendedto find out the differences between burnout and maritaladjustment of males and females as well as of subinspectorsand constables. The findings suggestedthat there is negative correlation between burnout andmarital adjustment. Karyl and Barling (2004) examinedthat negative perception of stress is negativelyassociated with marital aggression and violence infamily along with increase in marital dysfunctionslike family conflict, hostility, low marital warmth andsupportiveness. Maslach and Jackson (2001) alsofound that officers who experienced occupationalstress are more likely to exhibit anger, spend lesstime with family and feel dissatisfaction withmarriage. It has been observed that police officerswho are stressed and emotionally drained havenegative effects on family, leading to conflict and verbalaggressive behaviour towards wife and children.Emotional exhaustion was negatively correlated tomarital adjustment which reveals that emotions andfeelings are key to a satisfactory married life. HomerC. Hawkins (2001) examined negative correlationbetween emotional exhaustion and marital adjustmentin which people begin to experience detachment fromfamily, the loving persons and others.Depersonalization has negative relationship withmarital adjustment. The symptoms ofdepersonalisation like alteration of self perception,detachment from self and world, and distortion ofthought perception have negative effect on maritaladjustment. Morgan et. al (2002) and Savakis et. al(2003) have found the similar results whichsuggested that lack of social support from officersThe results show thatthere is negativecorrelation betweenburnout and maritaladjustment. Emotionalexhaustion anddepersonalization arenegatively correlated tomarital adjustmentwhile personalaccomplishment ispositively correlated tomarital adjustment.The Indian Police Journal Vol. LVII-No. 2, April-June, 2010 55➢