Coping by police officers: A study of role stress and Type A and Type B Behavior Patterns

This research examined the ways police officers appraise and cope with naturally occurring stressful events. We utilized interview and questionnaire instruments to obtain descriptions of the stressful events, how the events were appraised, and the ways in which officers coped. Analyses tested the situational specificity of the Type A behaviour pattern. As hypothesized, Type A officers selected strategies that were more active and narrowly focused on the problem than did Type B officers. For the Type A officer coping was relatively independent of appraisal, whereas for the Type B officer coping and appraisal were interdependent processes.