Social Support Theory

In the article “Applying Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory to Police Officer’s Misconduct”, authors Zavala and Kurtz strive to provide a connection between police officer misconduct and the emerging theory of differential coercion and social support. This is done by giving a brief description outlining the main components of differential coercion and social support theory and then examining coercive forcers, social support, intimate partner violent (IPV), and alcohol consumption among police officers (2016). The authors are able to measure these factors by using data collected from the Police Stress and Domestic Violence in Police Families in Baltimore, Maryland in 1997 – 1999. Furthermore, after running their analysis, the authors

The theoretical framework serves a purpose to ensure that the question asked is not based on an individual’s suspicion alone, reduce bias, and can help the reader understand the perspective and context better. Zavala and Kurtz give a brief description of this theory and how it relates to IPV perpetrated by police officers and problematic alcohol consumption, which provides evidence for their research purpose (2016). In short, this theory operates by using its’ two different elements, coercion and social support, to determine if someone will engage in criminal behavior (Zavala & Kurtz, 2016). For instance, the authors use pervious literature to give examples of how coercion and social support impact an individual’s life. Although, there is no research provided directly on this theory and police misconduct, the authors do give examples of studies that show evidence of coercion and social support related to IPV and alcohol consumption among police officers, to provide support for their research purpose. By doing this the authors are able to fill the gaps with adequate support for their reasoning in engaging in this study. After reviewing their theoretical framework, Zavala and Kurtz develop two research hypotheses regarding coercive forces and social support related to IPV perpetrated by police and problematic alcohol consumption

A logistic regression is normally used when dependent variables are nominal and there is more than one independent variable, which there was in this study (cite). Logistic regression also is used to describe data and explain the relationship between one dependent binary variable and one or more nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio-level independent variables (cite). When revisiting the two hypotheses that Zavala and Kurtz proposed, they initially wanted to explain the relationship between coercion, social support and IPV and alcohol consumption among police officers. Taking into consideration the variables they used and the way they were coded using a logistic regression for their analysis was an appropriate