Psychological Reports, 1975, 36, 190. @ Psychological Reports 1975
SUSCEPTIBILITY T O BOREDOM OF JAILERS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS~'~ BERNARD H. LEVIN Blrte Ridge Cornmzrnity College
AND
WALTER E. BROWN C e n ~ 7 dShenandoah Csiminal Justice Tsaining Center
Patrolmen and Sheriff's Deputies in semirural areas spend vast amounts of their working time on preventive patrol by themselves, frequently with rninima1 stimulus variety. Jailers, on the other hand, are usually guaranteed some variety on the job; failing all else there are usually prisoners or coworkers to relieve boredom. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that law enforcement officers whose primary responsibility is semirural preventive patrol are less susceptible to boredom than are jailers in the same locale. Subjects were 42 pauolmen and 31 jailers who were attending mandatory classes at the Central Shenandoah Criminal Justice Training Center. Subjects were given Zuckerman's ( 1971) Sensation-Seeking Scale. Mean scores on the Boredom Susceptibility subscale were 5 . 3 9 f 2.62 for 31 jailers and 4.88k2.03 for 42 patrolmen. A t ratio for independent groups did not allow rejection of the null hypothesis ( t < 1.00, df = 7 1 ) . The mean age of the 31 jailers ( M = 39.13215.29) was significantly higher ( t = 4.91, df = 71, p .001) than that of the 42 patrolmen ( M = 26.07f6.98). Pearsonian rs between age and boredom susceptibility scores were -0.196 within each group and -0.10 combined; none was significant ( p > .05). Analysis of covariance was considered but rejected because of gross nonlinearity. Instead, members of each group were matched for age -I 1 yr. This matching criterion reduced the sample to 17 pairs. Mean age of the 17 patrolmen was 27.2426.36 and of the 17 jailers was 27.29-1-6.29. Mean subscale scores were 4.29k2.08 for 17 patrolmen and 6.29-1-2.26 for 17 jailers. A t ratio for paired comparisons on the subscale scores was 2.69 (df = 16, p < .02) and supports the present hypothesis.
SUSCEPTIBILITY T O BOREDOM OF JAILERS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS~'~ BERNARD H. LEVIN Blrte Ridge Cornmzrnity College
AND
WALTER E. BROWN C e n ~ 7 dShenandoah Csiminal Justice Tsaining Center
Patrolmen and Sheriff's Deputies in semirural areas spend vast amounts of their working time on preventive patrol by themselves, frequently with rninima1 stimulus variety. Jailers, on the other hand, are usually guaranteed some variety on the job; failing all else there are usually prisoners or coworkers to relieve boredom. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that law enforcement officers whose primary responsibility is semirural preventive patrol are less susceptible to boredom than are jailers in the same locale. Subjects were 42 pauolmen and 31 jailers who were attending mandatory classes at the Central Shenandoah Criminal Justice Training Center. Subjects were given Zuckerman's ( 1971) Sensation-Seeking Scale. Mean scores on the Boredom Susceptibility subscale were 5 . 3 9 f 2.62 for 31 jailers and 4.88k2.03 for 42 patrolmen. A t ratio for independent groups did not allow rejection of the null hypothesis ( t < 1.00, df = 7 1 ) . The mean age of the 31 jailers ( M = 39.13215.29) was significantly higher ( t = 4.91, df = 71, p .001) than that of the 42 patrolmen ( M = 26.07f6.98). Pearsonian rs between age and boredom susceptibility scores were -0.196 within each group and -0.10 combined; none was significant ( p > .05). Analysis of covariance was considered but rejected because of gross nonlinearity. Instead, members of each group were matched for age -I 1 yr. This matching criterion reduced the sample to 17 pairs. Mean age of the 17 patrolmen was 27.2426.36 and of the 17 jailers was 27.29-1-6.29. Mean subscale scores were 4.29k2.08 for 17 patrolmen and 6.29-1-2.26 for 17 jailers. A t ratio for paired comparisons on the subscale scores was 2.69 (df = 16, p < .02) and supports the present hypothesis.
