Influence of inmate-related stressors and gender on correctional officers’ emotional exhaustion
Correctional officers are exposed to many inmate-related stressors that likely contribute to burnout, specifically emotional exhaustion. The current study builds upon the literature by examining differences in levels of burnout by gender. We hypothesized correctional officers who experienced more in...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Criminal justice studies
Year: 2025, Volume: 38, Issue: 4, Pages: 464-481 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Correctional officers are exposed to many inmate-related stressors that likely contribute to burnout, specifically emotional exhaustion. The current study builds upon the literature by examining differences in levels of burnout by gender. We hypothesized correctional officers who experienced more inmate-related stressors would report higher levels of emotional exhaustion, female correctional officers would report higher levels of emotional exhaustion, and the associations between inmate-related stressors and emotional exhaustion would be stronger for female correctional officers compared to male correctional officers. Using a publicly available dataset of 497 correctional officers in both Massachusetts and Texas, we conducted linear regression to examine the associations between inmate-related stressors and gender and emotional exhaustion. Inmate-related stressors were found to be associated with increased emotional exhaustion. Female correctional officers reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion. However, the association between inmate-related stressors and emotional exhaustion was not stronger for female correctional officers when compared to male correctional officers. The results of the current study provide avenues for future intervention work to reduce the impact of inmate-related stressors on burnout among correctional officers. |
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| ISSN: | 1478-6028 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/1478601X.2025.2584762 |
