Abstract
Police work is accepted as a high-risk and stressful occupation, where affective variables may influence both work performance and perceived quality of life (QoL) in police officers. The current study aimed to investigate the associations between QoL, emotion regulation, anger, and mental health in a sample of 156 Turkish riot police officers. Study design was descriptive and cross-sectional. Data was collected using self-report measures. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that depression and cognitive reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy were significant predictors of all domains of QoL. Trait anger was the third significant predictor of physical health and environment QoL, whereas anxiety emerged as the third significant predictor of psychological health QoL. Due to the high rates of depression and anxiety found in riot police, routine screening and early interventions to promote mental health should be conducted in this special population. It is suggested to implement psychological prevention programs which encompass emotion and anger regulation training for the promotion of QoL in riot police.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abernethy, A. D., & Cox, C. (1994). Anger management training for law enforcement personnel. Journal of Criminal Justice, 22(5), 459–466.
Achat, H., Kawachi, I., Spiro, A., DeMolles, D. A., & Sparrow, D. (2000). Optimism and depression as predictors of physical and mental health functioning: The normative aging study. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 22(2), 127–130.
Acquadro, M. (2015). D., Varetto, A., Zedda, M., & Ieraci, V. Occupational stress, anxiety and coping strategies in police officers. Occupational Medicine, 65(6), 466–473.
Alexopoulos, E. C., Palatsidi, V., Tigani, X., & Darviri, C. (2014). Exploring stress levels, job satisfaction, and quality of life in a sample of police officers in Greece. Safety & Health at Work, 5(4), 210–215.
Aydemir, Ö., Güvenir, T., Küey, L., & Kültür, S. (1997). Validity and reliability of Turkish version of hospital anxiety and depression scale. Turkish Journal of Psychiatry, 8(4), 280–287.
Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A social learning perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bardeen, J. R., Kumpula, M. J., & Orcutt, H. K. (2013). Emotion regulation difficulties as a prospective predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms following a mass shooting. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 27(2), 188–196.
Beck, A. T. (1999). Prisoners of hate: The cognitive basis of anger, hostility, and violence. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Bergman, A. L., Christopher, M. S., & Bowen, S. (2016). Changes in facets of mindfulness predict stress and anger outcomes for police officers. Mindfulness, 7(4), 851–858.
Berking, M., & Wupperman, P. (2012). Emotion regulation and mental health: Recent findings, current challenges, and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 25(2), 128–134.
Berking, M., Meier, C., & Wupperman, P. (2010). Enhancing emotion-regulation skills in police officers: Results of a pilot controlled study. Behavior Therapy, 41(3), 329–339.
Bonomi, A. E., Patrick, D. L., Bushnell, D. M., & Martin, M. (2000). Validation of the United States' version of the World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL) instrument. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 53(1), 1–12.
Burke, R. J. (1994). Stressful events, work-family conflict, coping, psychological burnout, and well-being among police officers. Psychological Reports, 75(2), 787–800.
Burke, R. J. (1998). Work and non-work stressors and well-being among police officers: The role of coping. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 11(4), 345–362.
Chen, H. C., Chou, F. H. C., Chen, M. C., Su, S. F., Wang, S. Y., Feng, W. W., Chen, P. C., Lai, J. Y., Chao, S. S., Yang, S. L., Tsai, T. C., Tsai, K. Y., Lin, K. S., Lee, C. Y., & Wu, H. C. (2006). A survey of quality of life and depression for police officers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Quality of Life Research, 15(5), 925–932.
Cheung, R. Y., & Park, I. J. (2010). Anger suppression, interdependent self-construal, and depression among Asian American and European American college students. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16(4), 517–525.
Collins, P. A., & Gibbs, A., C. (2003). Stress in police officers: A study of the origins, prevalence and severity of stress-related symptoms within a county police force. Occupational Medicine, 53, 256–264.
Daus, C. S., & Brown, S. G. (2012). The emotion work of police. In N. M. Ashkanasy, C. E. J. Hartel, & W. J. Zerbe (Eds.), Research on emotions in organizations (pp. 305–328). London: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Oetting, E. R., Lynch, R. S., & Morris, C. D. (1996). The expression of anger and its consequences. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34(7), 575–590.
DeSteno, D., Gross, J. J., & Kubzansky, L. (2013). Affective science and health: The importance of emotion and emotion regulation. Health Psychology, 32(5), 474–486.
Eser, E., Fidaner, H., Fidaner, C., Eser, S. Y., Elbi, H., & Göker, E. (1999). Psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-100 and WHOQOL-BREF. 3P psychiatry psychology psychopharmacology journal, 7(Suppl 2), 23-40. (Turkish).
van Gelderen, B. R., Bakker, A. B., Konijn, E. A., & Demerouti, E. (2011). Daily suppression of discrete emotions during the work of police service workers and criminal investigation officers. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 24(5), 515–537.
Gerzina, M. A., & Drummond, P. D. (2000). A multimodal cognitive-behavioural approach to anger reduction in an occupational sample. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73(2), 181–194.
Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299.
Gross, J. J. (1999). Emotion and emotion regulation. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 525–552). New York: Guilford.
Gross, J. J. (2001). Emotion regulation in adulthood: Timing is everything. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(6), 214–219.
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362.
Gross, J. J., & Muñoz, R. F. (1995). Emotion regulation and mental health. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2(2), 151–164.
Gross, J. J., Carstensen, L. L., Pasupathi, M., Tsai, J., Skorpen, C. G., & Hsu, A. Y. C. (1997). Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control. Psychology and Aging, 12, 590–599.
Haga, S. M., Kraft, P., & Corby, E. K. (2009). Emotion regulation: Antecedents and well-being outcomes of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in cross-cultural samples. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10(3), 271–291.
Hart, P. M., Wearing, A. J., & Headey, B. (1994). Perceived quality of life, personality, and work experiences. Construct validation of the Police Daily Hassles and Uplifts Scales. Criminal Justice & Behavior, 21(3), 283–311.
Hart, P. M., Wearing, A. J., & Headey, B. (1995). Police stress and well-being: Integrating personality, coping and daily work experiences. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 68(2), 133–156.
James, B. J., Wilson, W., & McMains, M. J. (2006). An examination of stress hardiness, dysphoria, and anger among police recruits exposed to stressful police academy training. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 21(2), 37–54.
John, O. P., & Gross, J. J. (2004). Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and lifespan development. Journal of Personality, 72, 1301–1334.
Julkunen, J., & Ahlström, R. (2006). Hostility, anger, and sense of coherence as predictors of health-related quality of life. Results of an ASCOT substudy. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 61(1), 33–39.
Kopper, B. A., & Epperson, D. L. (1996). The experience and expression of anger: Relationships with gender, gender role socialization, depression, and mental health functioning. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43(2), 158–165.
Kutlu, R., Civi, S., & Karaoğlu, O. (2009). The assessment of quality of life and depression among police officers. Türkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, 29(1), 8–15.
Leonard, R., & Alison, L. (1999). Critical incident stress debriefing and its effects on coping strategies and anger in a sample of Australian police officers involved in shooting incidents. Work & Stress, 13(2), 144–161.
Lipp, M. E. N. (2009). Stress and quality of life of senior Brazilian police officers. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 593–603.
Maia, D. B., Marmar, C. R., Metzler, T., Nóbrega, A., Berger, W., Mendlowicz, M. V., Coutinho, E. S. F., & Figueira, I. (2007). Post-traumatic stress symptoms in an elite unit of Brazilian police officers: Prevalence and impact on psychosocial functioning and on physical and mental health. Journal of Affective Disorders, 97(1), 241–245.
Marmar, C. R., McCaslin, S. E., Metzler, T. J., Best, S., Weiss, D. S., Fagan, J., et al. (2006). Predictors of posttraumatic stress in police and other first responders. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1071(1), 1–18.
Martin, R. C., & Dahlen, E. R. (2005). Cognitive emotion regulation in the prediction of depression, anxiety, stress, and anger. Personality & Individual Differences, 39(7), 1249–1260.
Mauss, I. B., Cook, C. L., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Automatic emotion regulation during anger provocation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(5), 698–711.
Meffert, S. M., Metzler, T. J., Henn-Haase, C., McCaslin, S., Inslicht, S., Chemtob, C., Neylan, T., & Marmar, C. R. (2008). A prospective study of trait anger and PTSD symptoms in police. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 21(4), 410–416.
Mercier, C., Peladeau, N., & Tempier, R. (1998). Age, gender and quality of life. Community Mental Health Journal, 34(5), 487–500.
Milovchevich, D., Howells, K., Drew, N., & Day, A. (2001). Sex and gender role differences in anger: An Australian community study. Personality and Individual Differences, 31(2), 117–127.
Neylan, T. C., Metzler, T. J., Best, S. R., Weiss, D. S., Fagan, J. A., Liberman, A., Rogers, C., Vedantham, K., Brunet, A., Lipsey, T. L., & Marmar, C. R. (2002). Critical incident exposure and sleep quality in police officers. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64(2), 345–352.
Novaco, R. W. (1977). A stress inoculation approach to anger management in the training of law enforcement officers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 5, 327–346.
Nyklíček, I., Vingerhoets, A., & Zeelenberg, M. (Eds.). (2010). Emotion regulation and well-being. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Özer, K. (1994). Preliminary study of trait anger and anger expression scales. Turkish Journal of Psychology, 9(31), 26-35. (Turkish).
Phillips, L. H., Henry, J. D., Hosie, J. A., & Milne, A. B. (2006). Age, anger regulation and well-being. Aging & Mental Health, 10(3), 250–256.
Ramey, S. L., Downing, N. R., & Franke, W. D. (2009). Milwaukee police department retirees: Cardiovascular disease risk and morbidity among aging law enforcement officers. AAOHN Journal, 57(11), 448–453.
Riedinger, M. S., Dracup, K. A., Brecht, M. L., Padilla, G., Sarna, L., & Ganz, P. A. (2001). Quality of life in patients with heart failure: Do gender differences exist? Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care, 30(2), 105–116.
Rusli, B. N., Edimansyah, B. A., & Naing, L. (2008). Working conditions, self-perceived stress, anxiety, depression and quality of life: A structural equation modelling approach. BMC Public Health, 8(1), 48–60.
Sarason, I. G., Johnson, J. H., Berberich, J. P., & Siegel, J. M. (1979). Helping police to cope with stress: A cognitive-behavioral approach. American Journal of Community Psychology, 7, 593–603.
Schum, J. L., Jorgensen, R. S., Verhaeghen, P., Sauro, M., & Thibodeau, R. (2003). Trait anger, anger expression, and ambulatory blood pressure: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 26(5), 395–415.
Skevington, S. M., Lotfy, M., & O'Connell, K. A. (2004). The World Health Organization's WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment: Psychometric properties and results of the international field trial. A report from the WHOQOL group. Quality of Life Research, 13(2), 299–310.
Soto, J. A., Perez, C. R., Kim, Y. H., Lee, E. A., & Minnick, M. R. (2011). Is expressive suppression always associated with poorer psychological functioning? A cross-cultural comparison between European Americans and Hong Kong Chinese. Emotion, 11(6), 1450–1455.
Spielberger, C. D., Jacobs, G., Russell, S., & Crane, R. S. (1983). Assessment of anger: The state-trait anger scale. Advances in Personality Assessment, 2, 159–187.
Stoner, S. B., & Spencer, W. B. (1987). Age and gender differences with the anger expression scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 47(2), 487–492.
Szasz, P. L., Szentagotai, A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2011). The effect of emotion regulation strategies on anger. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(2), 114–119.
Tharkar, S., Kumpatla, S., Muthukumaran, P., & Viswanathan, V. (2008). High prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk among police personnel compared to general population in India. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, 56, 845–849.
Toch, H. (1992). Violent men. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Tuckey, M. R., Dollard, M. F., Saebel, J., & Berry, N. M. (2010). Negative workplace behaviour: Temporal associations with cardiovascular outcomes and psychological health problems in Australian police. Stress & Health, 26(5), 372–381.
Ulaşan Özgüle, E. T. (2011). Mediating role of self-regulation between parenting, attachment, and adjustment in middle adolescence. Middle East Technical University, Ankara: Unpublished Dissertation.
Undén, A. L., Elofsson, S., Andréasson, A., Hillered, E., Eriksson, I., & Brismar, K. (2008). Gender differences in self-rated health, quality of life, quality of care, and metabolic control in patients with diabetes. Gender Medicine, 5(2), 162–180.
Urry, H. L., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Emotion regulation in older age. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(6), 352–357.
Vandiver, V. L. (1998). Quality of life, gender and schizophrenia: A cross-national survey in Canada, Cuba, and USA. Community Mental Health Journal, 34(5), 501–511.
Violanti, J. M., & Aron, F. (1994). Ranking police stressors. Psychological Reports, 75(2), 824–826.
Vögele, C., Jarvis, A., & Cheeseman, K. (1997). Anger suppression, reactivity, and hypertension risk: Gender makes a difference. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 19(1), 61–69.
Wang, Z., Inslicht, S. S., Metzler, T. J., Henn-Haase, C., McCaslin, S. E., Tong, H., Neylan, T. C., & Marmar, C. R. (2010). A prospective study of predictors of depression symptoms in police. Psychiatry Research, 175(3), 211–216.
WHOQOL Group. (1994). Development of the WHOQOL: Rationale and current status. International Journal of Mental Health, 23(3), 24–56.
WHOQOL Group. (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine, 28(3), 551–558.
Williams, J. E., Paton, C. C., Siegler, I. C., Eigenbrodt, M. L., Nieto, F. J., & Tyroler, H. A. (2000). Anger proneness predicts coronary heart disease risk: Prospective analysis from the atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study. Circulation, 101(17), 2034–2039.
Wu, S. Y., Li, H. Y., Wang, X. R., Yang, S. J., & Qiu, H. (2011). A comparison of the effect of work stress on burnout and quality of life between female nurses and female doctors. Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 66(4), 193–200.
Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983). The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361–370.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The authors declare that in every step of the study, COPE guidelines were adhered to.
Informed Consent
Oral informed consent was provided by each participant in the study.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kale, A., Gedik, Z. Quality of Life in Riot Police: Links to Anger, Emotion Regulation, Depression, and Anxiety. Applied Research Quality Life 15, 107–125 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-018-9667-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-018-9667-3