THE EFFECTS OF HARDINESS, POLICE STRESS, AND LIFE STRESS ON POLICE OFFICERS ILLNESS AND ABSENTEEISM

A total of 60 police officers from seven suburban police departments were given a questionnaire twice over a six-month period. The results of four time-lagged hierarchical regression analyses showed that high levels of police stress and life stress (measured at Time 1) were significantly related to illness (measured at Time 2). Police stress (Time 1) was significantly associated with absenteeism (rime 2). Further, hardy police officers with a high level of police stress tended to have a high level of absenteeism than hardy officers with a low level of police stress, whereas nonhardy officers experienced a high level of absenteeism regardless of their level of police stress. Implications concerning the results of this study are discussed.