Stress among Rural and Small-Town Patrol Officers: A Survey of Pennsylvani Municipal Agencies

Previous studies on police stress have focused mainly on urban officers, and attention afforded to rural and small-town police is virtually nonexistent. To address this gap in the literature, five distinct stress scales were constructed to examine 135 rural and small-town patrol officers’ experiences. The OLS regression results suggest that perceived disruptive administrative changes significantly increased officers’ stress experiences on a number of different dimensions, ranging from perceived maltreatment within the department to inherent aspects of the job. However, changes to the department’s top management positions were most strongly predictive of stress stemming from the organization. Perceived media criticism was positive in its significant effect on two of the five stress scales, general aspects of police work, and danger or violence. Department size was also linked to organizational stress.