The Negative Effects of Shift Work on Police Officers and Their Families

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The nature of police work forces officers to respond to calls 24 hours a day 7 day a week; because of this, the majority of 24/7 department officers must work non-standard hours, including weekends, holidays, evenings and nights; this is commonly referred to as shift work. The prolonged exposure to working these non-standard hours has significant detrimental effects on the mental and physical health of the police officer. These effects are thus filtered down and may cause conflict in their relationships with their significant others and other family members, with officer divorce rates averaging between 66% and 75%, they are the second highest divorce demographic almost doubling the national average (McCoy & Aamodt, 2009). This paper explores the specific physiological effects of shift work on the worker and its secondary effects on their families.
Perrucci, MacDermid, King, Tang, Brimeyer, Ramadoss, Kiser, and Swanberg (2007) conducted a review of current literature on the shift workers physical health, mental well-being and family life. They defined shift work as employment during non-standard hours outside the typical business hours of 8 A.M. to 5 P.M, Monday through Friday, including standard or rotating shift schedules. Their research indicates a majority of the workers that operate during these alternative shifts do so because they are forced to via the nature of their job; incidentally more than half of all shift workers fall into the category of protective services, including police. Data obtained from 2,400 non-standard shift workers reported that they suffered physiological symptoms at a higher rate than their standard hour counterparts with elevated instances of digestive problems, chest pains, the onset of illness, a...

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...89). A Compressed Shift Schedule: Dealing with Some of the Problems of Shift Work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 10(3), 231-245.
McCoy, S. P., & Aamodt, M. G. (2010). A Comparison of Law Enforcement Divorce Rates with Those of Other Occupations. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 25(1), 1-16.
Perrucci, R., MacDermid, S., King, E., Tang, C., Brimeyer, T., Ramadoss, K., et al. (2007). The Significance of Shift Work: Current Status and Future Directions. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 28(4), 600-617.
Tuttle, R., & Garr, M. (2012). Shift Work and Work to Family Fit: Does Schedule Control Matter? Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 33(3), 261-271.
Vila, B., Morrison, G. B., & Kenney, D. J. (2002). Improving Shift Schedule and Work-Hour Policies and Practices to Increase Police Officer Performance, Health, and Safety. Police Quarterly, 5(1), 4-24.

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