Experiencing acute stress is inherent in police work. The inability to cope effectively with stressful events can result in undesirable psychological and somatic outcomes, leading to chronic stress, burnout, and quitting the profession. Surprisingly, however, understanding the coping process in police stress and identifying effective coping strategies in response to stressful events has received only scant attention in the research literature. The purposes of this article are (a) to review the coping process in police stress, (b) to identify adaptive and maladaptive coping styles in police work, and (c) to suggest coping strategies that reflect the coping model to reduce both chronic and acute forms of stress and to improve job satisfaction and performance among police officers. The model consists of officers' detection of stressful events or stimuli, their cognitive appraisal of the events or stimuli, and their application of approach- or avoidance-coping dimensions, and cognitive- and behavioral-coping subdimensions.

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Two studies investigated possible factors that are associated with experiencing acute stress in police work. Occupational acute stressors in law enforcement were identified by police officers in Study 1 (N = 39). Using standardized mean (Z) scores as the dependent variable, MANOVA indicated that four of the 17 acute stressors identified in Study 1 were significantly different than the remaining stressors in terms of their combined intensity and frequency. The purpose of Study 2 was to examine the intensity of primary and secondary appraisal and reappraisal of police officers (N = 95) related to these previously identified stressful events, and the extent to which these measures differed as a function of experience in the police force. An adapted version of the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM) measured police officers' primary appraisals, secondary appraisals, reappraisals, and overall stress perceptions that were associated with these four acute stressors. Multiple regression analyses indicated that two primary appraisal dimensions, threat and challenge, were significant predictors of overall stressfulness, with centrality found as an important appraisal dimension. MANOVA revealed that years of experience as a police officer influenced the extent of the officers' beliefs that they could cope with stressful events.

The primary purpose of the present investigation was to test the hypothesis, derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT), that an individual's perceived competence and autonomy mediate the relationship between the exercisers' perception of their instructor's interaction style and the exercisers' motivation to exercise. A secondary purpose was to identify the affective and behavioral outcomes derived from self-determined regulation. It was hypothesized that SDT would significantly explain and predict exercise behavior. Participants consisted of 238 college students, 103 males and 135 females (M age = 20.4 years, SD = 2.16), who volunteered to participate in the study. They were asked to complete a battery of questionnaires measuring instructor's interacting style, self-regulation to exercise, perceived autonomy and competence, enjoyment, positive and negative affect, and exercise frequency. Using structural equation modeling with observed variables, the results showed that perceived competence and autonomy mediated the relationship between perceived instructor's interacting style and self-determined regulation. It was also found that self-determined regulation was significantly related to exercise enjoyment, positive affect, and exercise frequency. It was concluded that understanding the motivational factors and emotional and behavioral consequences of physical activity will partially explain an individual's motives to engage regularly in exercise.

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The growing obesity epidemic in the West, in general, and the U.S.A., in particular, is resulting in deteriorating health, premature and avoidable onset of disease, and excessive health care costs. The religious community is not immune to these societal conditions. Changing health behavior in the community requires both input from individuals who possess knowledge and credibility and a receptive audience. One group of individuals who may be uniquely positioned to promote community change but have been virtually ignored in the applied health and consulting psychology literature is religious leaders. These individuals possess extraordinary credibility and influence in promoting healthy behaviors by virtue of their association with time-honored religious traditions and the status which this affords them-as well as their communication skills, powers of persuasion, a weekly (captive) audience, mastery over religious texts that espouse the virtues of healthy living, and the ability to anchor health-related actions and rituals in a person's values and spirituality. This article focuses on ways in which religious leaders might promote healthy habits among their congregants. By addressing matters of health, nutrition, and fitness from the pulpit and in congregational programs, as well as by visibly adopting the tenets of a healthier lifestyle, clergy can deliver an important message regarding the need for healthy living. Through such actions, religious leaders can be effective agents in promoting critical change in these areas.

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The authors examined racial and gender differences on sport-related sources of acute stress that competitive athletes perceived as highly intense and experienced during the competitive event. Athletes (N = 332, 176 men, 156 women; 59 African Americans: 27 men, 32 women; 232 Caucasians: 125 men, 107 women; and 41 Hispanics: 24 men, 17 women) who competed in sport on a high school or college team participated in this study. The sources of the acute stress and the coping style in sport scales, which M. H. Anshel and T. Sutarso (2007) developed, required the athletes to indicate their perceived stress intensity and their "typical" coping responses after experiencing the two stressors they perceived as most intense. A multivarite analysis of variance indicated that Caucasians experienced higher stress intensity more often than did African Americans on each of two sources of acute stress, and Caucasians tended to use an approach-behavior coping style. Women reported higher stress intensity for coach-related sources of acute stress and used approach-behavioral and avoidance-cognitive coping styles more often than did their male counterparts. Hispanic athletes did not differ from other groups on any measure. The authors conclude that race and gender influence the coping process in competitive sport.