NCJ Number
96289
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1984) Pages: 395-403
Date Published
1984
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Municipal police in Texas and Oklahoma were surveyed in 1980-1981 to compare attitudes and background characteristics of policewomen with their Anglo male colleagues.
Abstract
Perspectives were chosen as dependent variables within a sequence of four topic areas, all of which are relevant to an individual policing effort: social causation, i.e., authoritarianism and human motivation; enforcement, i.e., predispositions toward intervention and arrest; stress, i.e., danger and general job-related stress; and professional self-assessment, i.e, confidence and effectiveness. The questionnaire was administered to 971 Oklahoma officers and 1,929 Texas officers. A Likert format was used for several study measures. The hypothesis that female officers would be significantly less authoritarian than male officers was rejected. Females were more cynical about human motivation to obey the law when controls for age, rank, and socioeconomic status were instituted. The prediction that policewomen would be significantly less likely than male officers to accept numerous arrests as a desirable policing goal was not supported. The data support the study predictions that (1) female officers would be significantly less likely than male officers to overlook infractions, (2) policewomen would not experience any more general work-related stress than policemen, (3) danger as a specific stressor would be more salient to women, and (4) females would feel less self-confident in their work than Anglo males but would view themselves as equally effective. Tabular data and 25 references are provided.