The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on European police officers: Stress, demands, and coping resources

Purpose: Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, police officers are confronted with various novel challenges, which might place additional strain on officers. This mixed-method study investigated officers’ strain over a three- month-period after the lockdown. Methods: In an online survey, 2567 police officers (77% male) from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Spain participated at three measurement points per country in spring, 2020. Three-level growth curve models assessed changes in strain and its relation to stressor appraisal, emotion regulation, and pre- paredness through training. To add context to the findings, free response answers about officers’ main tasks, stressors, and crisis measures were coded inductively. Results: On average, officers seemed to tolerate the pandemic with slight decreases in strain over time. Despite substantial variance between countries, 66% of the variance occurred between individuals. Sex, work experience, stressor appraisal, emotion regulation, and preparedness significantly predicted strain. Risk of infection and deficient communication emerged as main stressors. Officers’ reports allowed to derive implications for governmental, organizational, and individual coping strategies during pandemics. Conclusion: Preparing for a pandemic requires three primary paths: 1) enacting unambiguous laws and increasing public compliance through media communication, 2) being logistically prepared, and 3) improving stress regulation skills in police training

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status: Published onlin

A dyadic analysis of the role of preference disconfirmation in the explanation of intimate partner violence.

A dyadic analysis of the role of preference disconfirmation in the explanation of intimate partner violence Intimate partner violence is a pervasive, societal problem. Many studies have tried to explain intimate partner violence through various risk factors. These studies have predominantly focused on individual risk factors that are rdquo; for one of the partners (often the perpetrator). Lately, attention has also shifted toward more contextual risk factors, such as factors that refer to the relationship as such. However, most of these studies only collect data from one partner, thus ignoring the truly relational or ‘dyadic’ context in which IPV is embedded. Behavior within a couple is a process of interaction between both partners, each with its influence on the other partner. This interdependency between partners is rarely taken into account in IPV-research, although it is an inherent aspect of intimate relationships. The aim in this dissertation was to explore possible relational risk factors for IPV perpetration from a dyadic perspective. More specifically, the possible influence of ‘the preference disconfirmation hypothesis’ was investigated. This hypothesis predicts negative outcomes when either a difference between the preference and perceived reality (preference discrepancy), or a difference between the preferences of both partners (preference incongruence), is observed. One hypothesis is that preference disconfirmation has a direct effect on IPV perpetration. However, preference disconfirmation has never been explored as a possible risk factor for IPV before. Most often, the negative outcome of preference disconfirmation was operationalized in previous research as (relationship) dissatisfaction. Since relationship dissatisfaction is known to be a rather stable risk factor for IPV, a mediated effect of preference disconfirmation on IPV via relationship satisfaction is therefore also hypothesized. Two studies were conducted. For the first study, couple data from 78 romantically involved couples was collected. This study provided preliminary evidence that preference discrepancy had a significant total effect on IPV perpetration. A second study was then set up, with couple data from 178 romantically involved couples. In this study, the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was used to explore both actor effects (i.e., intrapersonal effects) as well as partner effects (i.e., interpersonal effects). Models were estimated via structural equation modeling, using AMOS. In general, results showed an effect of both preference discrepancy and preference incongruence on psychological and physical IPV, mediated via relationship satisfaction. A person’s preference discrepancy not only influenced that person’s own satisfaction, but also his/her partner’s satisfaction. A couple’s preference incongruence predicted both male and female relational satisfaction, but this association was stronger for men. In turn a person’s relationship satisfaction only predicted that person’s own perpetration of IPV. Besides indirect effects, a direct actor effect of male preference discrepancy on male psychological IPV perpetration was also found.nbsp;highlight the possible important role of preference disconfirmation in explaining relationship dynamics that precede relationship satisfaction and IPV. Furthermore, this study advocated dyadic research in criminology, as it raises the level of understanding of many inherently dyadic phenomena to a higher level.nbsp;status: publishe

A dyadic analysis of the relation between preference discrepancy, relationship satisfaction and physical and psychological aggression in intimate relationships

status: submitte

Ouderverstoting vanuit het perspectief van de familie- en jeugdrechter

status: publishe