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Cited by 92Stress and Burnout ResearchPolicing Practices and PerceptionsOccupational Health and Burnout

Burnout in blue: an analysis of the extent and primary predictors of burnout among law enforcement officers in the United States

McCarty, William P., Aldirawi, Hani, Dewald, Stacy, Palacios, Mariana·2019·Police Quarterly
DOI 10.1177/1098611119828038
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Abstract

Job-related burnout is a significant concern for researchers, law enforcement administrators, and government authorities because of its broader effects on officer health, job performance, and service provided to the public. This topic is particularly relevant amidst a variety of complex challenges and heightened scrutiny surrounding law enforcement officers, their decisions, and relations with the public. Although much work has been conducted on burnout among police officers, the aim of this study is to build on the literature through analyzing survey data from roughly 13,000 sworn respondents representing 89 agencies throughout the United States to describe the extent of two components of burnout—emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Then, based on Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) six areas of worklife, this study uses multivariate analysis to identify the primary predictors of those two components of burnout and how they are shaped by the characteristics of the agencies and communities in which these officers work. The analysis indicates approximately 19% of the total sample was experiencing severe levels of emotional exhaustion and 13% had extreme values of depersonalization. In addition, regression analyses suggest that specific measures of workload and values were the strongest predictors of emotional exhaustion, while depersonalization was driven by similar factors in addition to a measure of community that tapped into relations with the public. Furthermore, little empirical support was found for the importance of agency and community-level variables as predictors of either component of burnout. A discussion of how to translate those results into efforts to mitigate burnout is also presented.

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Authors
McCarty, W. P., Aldirawi, H., Dewald, S., & Palacios, M.
Affiliations
University of Illinois Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Palacios, Mariana
ORCID
Venue
Police Quarterly
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2019-02-22
Volume
22
Issue
3
Pages
278-304
ISSN
  • 1098-6111 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-745X
DOI
10.1177/1098611119828038
OpenAlex
W2918098817
Cited by
92
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 6
FWCI
10.06
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Police Quarterly (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
Keywords
burnout, police officers, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, workload, organizational values, community relations, occupational stress, burnout prevention

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