The Antecedents of Job Stress for Community Corrections Employees

Abstract

The study examined job stress as experienced by community corrections employees in a Western U.S. state. We employed the job demands and resources model to examine the impact of job demands (dangerousness, role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload) and job resources (training views, job variety, job autonomy, and formalization) on community corrections officers’ job stress, while controlling for demographic characteristics (sex, age, education, tenure at the job, race/ethnicity). Survey data from 227 community corrections employees in a Western U.S. state were included in the analysis. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models indicated that perceptions of dangerousness of the job and role overload significantly contributed to higher job stress, while job autonomy was associated with lower job stress. Surprisingly, while job variety was included as a job resource, it was associated with higher job stress. Among demographic variables, only tenure had a significant association, suggesting that longevity at the job may contribute to job stress among community corrections employees.