Occupational Stress, Personality Traits, Coping Strategies, and Suicide Ideation in the South African Police Service

This study examined whether suicide ideation among uniformed police officers in the South African Police Service could be predicted on the basis of occupational stress, personality traits, & coping strategies. Using a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaires were administered to a stratified random sample of 1,794 police employees from 8 South African provinces. A logistic regression analysis shows low scores on conscientiousness, emotional stability, approach coping, & turning to religion as well as high scores on avoidance coping are associated with more suicide ideation. (59 refs.)