The accumulated impact of critical incident exposure on correctional officers’ mental health

Abstract

Despite compelling arguments that prison work influences officer mental health, little attention has been devoted to directly and rigorously assessing this relationship. Even less attention has been attributed to the potential impact of critical incident exposure on mental health outcomes among officers. Drawing from a longitudinal sample of correctional officers from three prisons in Minnesota, the current study develops and then tests a resiliency-fatigue model by examining the impact of the accumulation of work-related critical incident exposures on symptoms related to posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. As critical incident exposures accumulate, mental health symptoms are found to become more pronounced. The analyses also reveal evidence that mental health symptoms only increase to problematic levels once the accumulation of critical incidents reaches or surpasses an inflection point. The results underscore the importance of understanding the diverse groups affected by prisons and have downstream implications for incarcerated persons, as well as for prison systems more broadly.