Traditional Male Role Norms, Social Support, and Symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Male Polish Police Officers

Abstract

Police officers’ work involves the exposition to traumatogenic stimuli. The aim of the research is to investigate potential associations between post-traumatic stress disorder and the traditional masculinity norms and social support. Three questionnaires were used: the Impact of Event Scale-Revised adapted by Juczyński and Ogińska-Bulik (2009), the Social Relations Scale (Skarżyńska 2002), and the Male Role Norms Scale translated by the authors of this paper. The sample comprised 111 male active service members of the Polish Police. The analysis shows statistically significant, mildly negative associations between post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology variables and social relations/support (− .312 to − .386), and mild-to-moderate positive associations between the traditional male role norms and post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology variables (.361–.506). The intergroup differences between the police officers that probably meet the PTSD criteria and those that do not meet the criteria were mainly observed in complying with the traditional masculinity norms, in which the police officers with probable post-traumatic stress disorder had higher results than those without it; the reverse was observed in the case of social relations/support. Traditional masculinity norms, length of service, number of types of traumatic events, social relations/support, and age have proved to be significant independent predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (β = − .38–β = .49). However, in the multivariate regression, only social status norms, age, social relations/support, and number of types of traumatic events proved to be significant predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (β = − 26 to .40), accounting for 45% of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

Identifying Organizational Stressors That Could Be a Source of Discomfort in Police Officers: A Thematic Review

“…In this thematic review, five studies (25%) of those included highlight the importance of organizational culture [ 42 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Again, the studies show both positive and negative effects of a particular organizational culture.…”

“…In an interesting study by Gutschmidt and Vera [ 47 ], their results indicated that the type of organizational culture (e.g., hardworking cultures, team cultures) predicted both the maladaptive strategies used by police officers and their job satisfaction. In a study by Sitko-Dominik and Jakubowski [ 48 ], results showed a relationship between adherence to traditional masculinity norms (e.g., anti-femininity) and PTSD symptomatology (related to fear of losing emotional control). More specifically, their findings indicated that in male police officers, coping with stress could be negatively affected by their adherence to certain social role norms (e.g., hypermasculinity) acquired during the socialization process.…”

“…In terms of organizational culture, as Sitko-Dominik and Jakubowski [ 48 ] noted, it is important to revisit the social norms that characterize the police organization and to monitor the value of expressing or not expressing negative emotions such as worry and anxiety. For example, it might be useful to provide regular feedback to highlight behaviors that promote desirable values and norms.…”

The mediating role of self-compassion and the moderating role of restrictive emotionality in gender role discrepancy and depression

“…Masculine gender role discrepancy is conceptually defined as the perceptual characterization of men who deviate from the established societal norms associated with traditional masculinity [ [1] , [2] , [3] ]. As hegemonic masculinity is the standard for most men [ 4 , 5 ] and male roles are strongly affected by stereotypes [ 6 , 7 ], to appear “manly” men are pressured to exhibit a comprehensive range of characteristics associated with masculinity, and this perpetual confirmation becomes an ongoing process, reinforcing societal norms and fortifying the notion of what it means to be a man [ 8 , 9 ]. Moreover, boys acquire a learned expectation that the contravention of established masculine norms will engender unfavorable social ramifications [ 10 , 11 ].…”