(PS4-A5) Public Stigma for Law Enforcement Officers with PTSD and Work Stress Is Predicted by Race and Perception of Law Enforcement

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) witness and experience stressors and traumas resulting in work-related stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (Valezquez & Hernandez, 2019). Although well-documented that LEOs describe public stigma, which is discriminative behaviors as well as negative beliefs about and emotional reactions towards others, for other LEOs with mental health problems (Drew & Martin, 2021), no research has examined the stigma the public may hold for LEOs experiencing stress or PTSD. We assessed public stigma for LEOs experiencing work-related stress and PTSD. Additionally, this investigation assessed other variables associated with public stigma, including familiarity with LEOs, gender, race, and empathy. Finally, negative perception of LEOs was also assessed to determine if it was predictive of public stigma for LEOs.

Participants (N = 475) completed an online survey distributed via email at a regional, midwestern university. Participants completed a demographic survey as well as the following measures: Toronto Empathy Scale (Spreng et al., 2009), Level of Familiarity with Law Enforcement (Lauderdale & Martin-Bixby, 2021), and the Perception of Police Scale (Nadal, 2015). Following, participants were randomly assigned to read a vignette of an LEO experiencing either work-related stress or PTSD. Afterwards, participants completed a measure of public stigma (Attributes Questionnaire-27; Corrigan et al., 2003). 

A  2 (participant gender) X 2 (LEO group) X 3 (racial identification) MANOVA was used to assess results. There was a main effect for racial identification (Pillai’s Trace = .16, F(20, 600) = 2.57, p < .01), with specific effects found for blame (F(2, 319) = 9.98, p < .05), help (F(2, 319) = 3.54, p < .05), danger (F(2, 319) = 7.85, p < .001), fear (F(2, 319) = 7.31, p < .01), avoidance (F(2, 319) = 6.22, p < .05), and segregation (F(2, 319) = 7.62, p < .01). Black participants expressed more public stigma for LEOs than Latinx or White participants. The racial identification X LEO group interaction was significant specifically for anger (F(2, 319) = 3.74, p < .05) and coercion (F(2, 319) = 3.32, p < .05). Black participants reported greater anger than White (t(131) = 2.62, p < .01) and Latinx (t(46) = 3.68, p < .01) participants for the LEO experiencing stress. Black participants had a greater desire to coerce the stressed LEO into treatment than White (t(131) = 3.01, p < .01) or Lantinx (t(131) = 3.79, p < .01) participants. For the LEO experiencing PTSD, both Black and Latinx  participants (t(45) = .876, p < .05) wanted to coerce the LEO into treatment more so than White participants (t(137) = 3.93, p < .01). For many public stigma domains, positive predictors in regression analyses included participant race (Black and Latinx), LEO group (stressed), and negative perception of LEOs. Empathy was predictive of less public stigma for LEOs. Results will be discussed in the context of the literature for public stigma and negative perception of police based on personal experiences, media portrayals, and disproportionality of negative police interactions with people from diverse racial backgrounds.