Relationship between occupational stress and psychological regulation among police and railway protection force personnel

Background: Police and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel encounter sustained occupational demands. Aim: To compare perceived occupational stress between State Police and RPF personnel and examine associations between Occupational Stress Index (OSI) domains and performance-based indicators derived from the Rorschach Comprehensive System (control/stress tolerance, affect regulation, and situationally related stress). Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 40 serving male personnel (State Police n = 20; RPF n = 20) were assessed at duty locations using a socio-demographic proforma, GHQ-12 (Hindi) screening, the Rorschach Inkblot Test (Exner Comprehensive System), and the OSI (Hindi). Group differences were tested, and pooled OSI-Rorschach associations were examined using two-tailed Spearman correlations; the full matrix is provided in Supplementary Table S1. Results: State Police reported higher stress than RPF on multiple OSI domains. Occupational stress most consistently covaried with EB-linked indicators within the control/stress tolerance domain, whereas affect-regulation associations were selective and marker-specific. Situational stress indices did not show significant correspondence with OSI domains. Conclusion: Perceived occupational stress was most consistently associated with performance-based indicators reflecting coping configuration/internal regulatory demand, with selective affect-related associations and no robust links to situational stress indices.