April - June 2010 - Bureau of Police Research and Development

A Study of Burnout and Marital Adjustment of Police Personnelcreates tension, anxiety and feeling of depression,disturbed sleep that leads to low feelings of mutualunderstanding, poor sexual relationships and createstension and conflicts between the spouse.Personal accomplishment and marital adjustmentare positively related to the feeling of superiority,high decision making attitude, having more socialand political powers than others that help to keephigh personal accomplishment and high moraleamong police officers, which is conducive for maritaladjustment. Morgan (2002) found that senior officerswere more likely to report stronger feelings ofpersonal accomplishment than younger officers andsuggested that police officers who had low personalaccomplishment were more likely to consumealcohol, tranquilizers, smoke and show aggressiveand abusive behaviour.It has been also observed that there is no significantdifference between burnout of sub-inspector andconstables and it can be stated that sub-inspectorand constables experience equal level of burnoutand find job insecurity, work load, emotionalexhaustion, low personal accomplishment, andhaving role conflict to a large extent.There exists no significant gender difference ofburnout between males and females as both thegroups experience work pressure, job insecurity,rapid transfer, public interaction, day and night shifts.While Cullen et. al (2000) and Zupan (1999) foundthat female officers reported greater burnout thanmale officers because of low social support, jobinsecurity, job autonomy, time pressures at work,and work-family conflict.Male police officers were found to have low maritaladjustment, while female officers had high maritaladjustment because females are more adjustableby nature than male. It has been also found thatfemale police personnel face less job responsibilitiesat work place and work load, no frequent changes inwork shifts and transfers. (Cruse, D. & Rubin, 2003).Constables feel more marital adjustment than subinspectorbecause sub-inspectors have moreresponsibilities, decision making workload,pressure of seniors than constables while constablesface less pressure of seniors.Conclusion and Future ImplicationsOn the basis of the study, it can be concluded thatthere is negative relationship between burnout andmarital adjustment. It has become important to copeup with burnout as it leads to chronic physical andpsychological consequences. As person feelsemotionally drained, it generates unrealisticthoughts, have distorted self perception, frustration,hopelessness, detachment, isolation, sadness andirritability. These factors lead to reduced interest infamily matters, reduced communication and mutualtrust which creates tension and conflict in familyand between spouses.Thus, it can be suggested that there is need ofappointment of mental health experts, stressreduction and intervention programmes (yoga andmeditation), and the peer support program shouldbe started in the police academy and in local policestation, to reduce the stress among policemen andtheir family. Religious participation and beliefs,spending time together, social and family supportand marital therapies can help the spouses to reducethe marital disputes and burnout which include lossof affection, communication problems and extramarital affairs.Proper psychological tests must be developed forthe assessment of personnel's stress levels andappropriate therapies should be used where theofficers can combat various stressful situations. Biofeedback must be followed up to inform the personnelconstantly about the physical and psychologicalchanges during stress, for example the intensity oftension in muscles, the body temperature, heart rate,etc.ReferencesAnn C. Davidson, Ellen Berah and Simon Moss(2006): “The relationship between the adjustment ofaustralian police officers and their partners”.Psychiatry, Psychology and law, (13) 1,41- 48.Anson, R.H. Bloom (2000): Police stress in anoccupational context. Journal of police science andadministration, 16, 229-235.56 ➢ The Indian Police Journal Vol. LVII-No. 2, April-June, 2010