Burnout and violent victimization in police officers: a dual process model.
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between burnout and violent victimization in terms of physical assaults in patrol police officers. A burnout-victimization model is proposed assuming emotional exhaustion and depersonalization to be associated with violent victimization via different mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach The study entails a cross-sectional survey of 1,742 German patrol police officers who reported 4,524 police encounters. The paper employs a binary logistic multilevel structural equation modeling approach to test the proposed model. Findings In line with the hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was found to reduce police officers’ self-protecting behavior, which in turn heightened their risk of victimization. Depersonalization was positively linked to a favorable attitude toward violence, which was linked to violent victimization but only to a small extent. Further analyses yielded an additional direct pathway from emotional exhaustion to victimization. Research limitations/implications The main limitations include the cross-sectional design of the study and the lack of including police officers’ own aggressive and violent behavior. Multimethod studies also using observational data of police-citizen interactions would be desirable in future studies. Originality/value This study is one of the first investigating the burnout-victimization link in police officers. By proposing and examining two different pathways, it further enhances the understanding of the underlying mechanisms.
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Studies have revealed that burnout decreases self-protective behaviors and increases aggressive behaviors.
“As studies have revealed that burnout decreases self-protective behaviors and increases aggressive behaviors (Euwema et al., 2004; Queirós et al., 2013; Ellrich, 2016)”
From Burnout and Stress Measurement in Police Officers: Literature Review and a Study With the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (2020) · cites this paper as Ellrich, 2016
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- Authors
- Ellrich, K.
- Affiliations
- Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Ellrich, Karoline
- Venue
- Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2016-11-21
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 652-666
- ISSN
- 1363-951X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2559823171
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 3.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Policing An International Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emotional Labor in Professions
- Keywords
- burnout, violent victimization, police officers, patrol police, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, attitudes toward violence, police-citizen encounters, dual-process models
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