Date of Award

5-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. Krista Lynn Minnotte

Second Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Legerski

Third Advisor

Dr. Justin Berg

Abstract

Previous scholarship suggests that the nature of policing is stressful and has important implications for the marital quality of police officers. Given the stresses inherent in policing, the purpose of this study is to examine how job stress, job burnout, and work-to-family conflict experienced by male and female police officers impact the likelihood of experiencing marital conflict; the potential mediating role of work-to-family conflict is also examined. This thesis also explores gender differences that may exist in the experience of these variables. Data from the 1995 Work and Family Services for Law Enforcement Personnel in the United States study was utilized (N = 1137; N = 95 females and 1042 males), and OLS regression was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that as job stress increases for female police officers, marital conflict also increases. It was found that job stress, job burnout, and work-to-family conflict all had positive and significant relationships with marital conflict among male police officers. Results also suggest that work-to-family conflict does not mediate the relationships between job stress, job burnout, and marital conflict for male and female police officers. The implications of the results of this thesis suggest the need for more programs to be available to police officers, especially male police officers, whose work-to-family conflict might be impacting their marital conflict.

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