No abstract

Past research has documented that non-behavioral variables (such as long work hours, exposure to police stressors) are associated with obesity risk in police officers, but limited research has examined behavioral variables that might be targeted by Employee Assistance Programs for police weight management. The present study compared non-obese and obese officers for behavioral variables found associated with obesity in other adult samples: physical activity (cardiovascular, strength-training, stretching), sleep duration, and consumption of alcohol, fruit and vegetables, and snack foods. Participants included 172 male police officers who completed questionnaires to report height and weight, used to calculate body mass index (BMI = kg/m2) and to divide them into “non-obese” and “obese” groups. They also reported the above behaviors and six non-behavioral variables found associated with obesity risk: age, health problems, family support, police work hours, police stressors, police support. ANCOVAs compared each behavioral variable across obesity status (non-obese, obese), with the six non-behavioral variables used as covariates. Results revealed that cardiovascular and strength-training physical activity were the only behavioral variables that differed significantly between non-obese and obese police officers. The use of self-reported height and weight values may provide Employee Assistance Program with improved cost, time, and officer participation.

One purpose of the present study was to examine how exposure to police stressors was associated with increased risk for physical, psychological and interpersonal negative outcomes. Another purpose was to identify ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ coping mechanisms that mediate these associations between police stressors and negative outcomes. Participants included 201 police officers from small departments under 100 officers (96% male; mean age = 40.3 years; 91% Caucasian; 55% Patrol Officer rank; mean years of service = 15.0 years), who completed anonymous surveys that included the 25-item Law Enforcement Officer Stress Survey (LEOSS) and measures of health problems, self-esteem and aggression to romantic partners and police partners. They also reported 12 ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ coping mechanisms as suggested by the Theory of Threat Appraisal and Coping (exercise, sleep, eating fruit and vegetables, family support, police support, religiosity, alcohol, tobacco, snacks, caffeine, expressed anger, repressed anger). Higher exposure to police stressors was associated with increased risk for health problems, low self-esteem, partner aggression and police aggression. Repressed anger was the ‘unhealthy’ coping mechanism most significantly associated with officers' reports of police stressors. Mediation analysis revealed that only the removal of repressed anger dropped associations between police stressors and the four negative outcomes to non-significance. Present results demonstrate that the most prevalent coping mechanism used by stressed police officers may not always be associated with improvements in outcomes. Employee assistance programmes for officers with high levels of police stressors should focus on anger-management and anger-expression skills.

The present study provides the first available evaluation of how violence with the mother and siblings during adulthood is associated with the occurrence of partner violence in young adults. Because a pattern of reciprocal partner violence is well documented, the authors hypothesized that reciprocal violence would also be found for adults and their mothers and for adults and their siblings. The authors also hypothesized that reciprocal violence with the mother and sisters would explain variance in partner violence even when controlling for other known predictors (poverty, poor family support, stress, anger, low self-esteem). Study participants included 377 college adults (114 men, 263 women; mean age = 24.4 years) who completed questionnaires to report their present violence to and from their mothers, sisters, brothers, and romantic partners. Violence is measured with a modified Conflict Tactics Scale. No sibling gender differences are found in violence reported as adults. Factor analysis confirms good fit for three clusters of reciprocal violence for adults: violence with the mother, violence with siblings, violence with the romantic partner. Violence with the mother and siblings significantly explains variance in partner violence even after controlling for other contextual variables, but only for women. One interpretation of present results is that because women receive less socialization than men to use violence, these two within-family models of violence have more significance for increasing their risk of partner violence. Partner violence prevention programs could include participation of mothers and siblings to enhance development of more peaceful conflict resolution patterns within and outside the family.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the demographic, resource and internal competition factors that influence both the level of citizen engagement provided by municipal Twitter accounts as well as the primary purposes for which those accounts are used.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a mixed-methods approach. Twitter data were content analyzed and categorized according to their specific purposes (information dissemination, community building or calls to action). Twitter engagement was measured as an index variable constructed from prior research, and multiple regression was used to determine the factors which best predict both account engagement and tweet purposes.FindingsThe results show that two factors (a multiplatform approach and fiscal health) along with the interaction of those factors predict the level of Twitter-based citizen engagement. Median citizen age was found to significantly predict the percentage of municipal tweets with purposes of information dissemination and community building.Originality/valueThis study adds to the literature on public sector social media use by examining the purposes and practices of local government Twitter use, providing a context for examining how Twitter is employed by local governments for citizen engagement.