This study addressed the effects of age on anxiety and depressive symptoms. The analysis was based on the responses of 1,334 retired male Scottish police officers (34-94 years old) to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the partialed linear and curvilinear effects of symptoms of, separately, anxiety and depression on age and retirement variables. Significant partialed effects of retirement type and present age were found. Early retirement was a vulnerability factor for both disorders. The authors found a consistent linear reduction in anxiety across age and a U-shaped function for depression across age. The differing profiles and independent effects of age on anxiety and depression are consistent with their status as separate entities. Respondents were increasingly susceptible to depression from the mid-50s onward, whereas susceptibility to anxiety was reduced with age.
This study used Hopkins et a1.k public attitudes questionnaire to investigate the metaperceptions of Scottish police officers (i.e. their perceptions of how they are perceived by the general public), and compared these to the actual responses of members of the public on the same instrument. It was found that the public were moderately favourable towards the police, both in their attitudes towards the police and the law in general (Scale A) and in their stereotypes of police behaviour and demeanour (Scale B). The police had an accurate perception of this favourability in the context of Scale A, but were significantly optimistic about public response on Scale B. In addition, they significantly underestimated the extent to which the public saw the two scales as related to one another. The results are discussed in terms of the false consensus bias, and in-groupout-group homogeneity.
Scottish police recruits rated the effect of various circumstances on decisions whether or not to take action against a hypothetical traffic offender. Ratings were obtained at induction (Basic group) and after one year’s service (Advanced group), both before and after training periods. Factor analysis showed a primary “in-group” factor before training, together with subsidiary “special cases” and “costs and benefits” factors, on all of which the Basic group was significantly more ready to take action. Factor analysis of the after-training responses showed that the primary factor was special cases, with subsidiary in-group and out-group factors. The Basic group was not significantly different from the Advanced group on the latter two, but was still more likely to take action against special cases. These results are discussed in terms of organizational socialization and professional culture.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.