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Attitudinal Differences Between Police Constables and Their Supervisors

NCJ Number
156995
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 326-339
Author(s)
S B Perrott; D M Taylor
Date Published
1995
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The study evaluated the usefulness of the socialization hypothesis and the predispositional hypothesis to explain potential attitudinal differences between a sample of 123 Canadian constables and 36 supervising noncommissioned officers (NCOs).
Abstract
The questionnaire used in the study measured social nearness, authoritarianism, perceived stress, and job satisfaction. The number and magnitude of differences between the groups demonstrated that police constables possess a different constellation of attitudes and beliefs than do their immediate supervisors. The one area in which constables and NCOs did not differ was occupational stress. Nonetheless, the NCOs expressed higher levels of occupational satisfaction than did the constables. NCOs scored higher on the measure of authoritarianism and feelings of social nearness to police managers. The findings suggest that an experiential or socialization framework would explain these results better than a predispositional hypothesis. 2 tables, 1 figure, 2 notes, 24 references, and 1 appendix

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