정서지능과 사회적 지지가 경찰공무원의 외상후 스트레스 장애에 미치는 영향 = (The) effects of emotional intelligence and social support on post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) symptoms of police officers

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A police officer may experience, during the line of duty, unexpected circumstances that may result in injury to self or death of a partner. Examples are abound, such as the Yongsan evictee incident where numerous died, and other such riots and protests where threat to life and bodily injury occur. There are also cases where police officers must take emergency measures on seriously injured people from traffic accidents, and where police officers are assaulted by the drunk, or get injured from traffic offenders who resist arrest. Police officers also deal with many cases of suicides. All such aforementioned cases may result in serious stressors, and police officers are victimized by repeated exposure to such stressors. Therefore, police officers, due to the characteristics of their line of work, are often exposed to dangerous situations that may result in physical harm or witness such physical harm, and there is high risk that this leads to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome(PTSD).
However, police officers and military servicemen who have high possibility of experiencing traumatic events often believe that vulnerability to stress is a weakness rather than a work hazard due to masculine organizational culture. Thus, those who suffer from PTSD symptoms, despite being victims, are often misunderstood and seen as cowards by the public and even by other organizational colleagues. Therefore, PTSD is not an issue of an individual police officer, but an organizational problem and a social problem, and to deal with these problems more provocatively to minimize negative consequences, more practical and systematic research is required. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the extent of traumatic experience of police officers and how emotional intelligence and social support affect PTSD.
In this study, to conceptualize emotional intelligence, social support and PTSD of police officers and to establish validity, examination of previous research was conducted. Based on previous research, a theoretical model and variables were set on the affect of emotional intelligence and social support on PTSD of police officers. To test this theoretical model, self-report survey was conducted on 750 police officers. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS 18.0.

There were four major findings from analysis.

First, analysis of demographic variables and types of PTSD indicate 89% of subjects experienced traumatic events, and 73% of police officers experienced PTSD. These figure are similar to other lines of work that are exposed to similar levels of PTSD. Police officers who were exposed to more traumatic events more often had PTSD, which means repeated exposure to traumatic events leads to higher incidents of PTSD.
Second, analysis on effects of emotional intelligence on PTSD indicates emotional control reduces PTSD, and this is consistent with previous research that emotional control decreases negative effects of stress and exhaustion.
Third, analysis on effect of social support on PTSD indicates material support, one of the sub-variables of social support, increases PTSD. This implies that organizational culture of providing material support in the form of alcohol consumption after a traumatic event ironically leads to negative conversations and criticisms of supervisors that result in increase in PTSD. Also, evaluative support, another subvariable of social support, decreased PTSD.
In summary, this study expanded upon previous research, which analyzed effects of cognitive intelligence, by conducting analysis of effects of emotional intelligence on PTSD. Analysis resulted in differences from previous research, which are as follows. First, effect of emotional intelligence on PTSD was statistically significant. One of the sub-variables of emotional intelligence, emotional control, decreased PTSD. Second, material support, one of the sub-variables of social support, increased PTSD, but evaluative support was consistent with previous research that it increased PTSD.(Second, material support, one of the sub-variables of social support, increased PTSD, which is inconsistent with previous research. This may have to do with organizational culture of Korean police. Third, evaluative support, another sub-variable of social support, was consistent with previous research.)
Based on analysis results, it is recommended that in order to decrease PTSD of police officers, it is necessary to establish a nation-wide long-term policy of preventing and managing PTSD and other mental illnesses of police officers. According to the results, 84% of police officers had experienced PTSD. Therefore, police officers should manage PTSD issues more efficiently, and actively promote public image of police officers to improve quality of life of police officers in the long-term.
Also, repeated exposure to traumatic events can develop to PTSD, so the police must reestablish itself as a powerful law enforcement agency to decrease traumatic events themselves. To this end, Awards and Decorations Act should be amended so that police officers can receive Order of National Security Merit like military servicemen. Additionally, educational programs should be implemented to improve emotional intelligence of police officers in the process of recruitment, promotion and education. Emotional intelligence is changeable, not static. A selection process has to be established to recruit police officers with high emotional intelligence, and efforts are needed to maintain and develop emotional intelligence in educational programs in police academies. Lastly, policies to actively improve social support of police officers should be implemented as well.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 제1장 서론 = 1
• 제1절 연구의 목적 = 1
• 제2절 연구의 범위 및 방법 = 4
• 1. 연구의 범위 = 4
• 2. 연구의 방법 = 5
• 제2장 연구의 이론적 배경 = 7
• 제1절 정서지능의 개념 및 측정도구 = 7
• 1. 정서지능의 개념 = 7
• 2. 정서지능의 구성요소 = 12
• 3. 정서지능의 모형 = 15
• 4. 정서지능의 측정도구 = 16
• 제2절 사회적 지지의 개념 및 효과 = 18
• 1. 사회적 지지의 개념 = 18
• 2. 사회적 지지의 범위 = 19
• 3. 사회적 지지의 유형 = 21
• 4. 사회적 지지의 효과 = 22
• 제3절 외상후 스트레스 장애의 개념 및 요인 = 25
• 1. 외상사건의 개념과 반응 = 25
• 2. 외상후 스트레스 장애의 개념 및 진단기준 = 31
• 3. 외상후 스트레스 장애 이론과 요인 = 37
• 4. 각국의 외상후 스트레스 장애에 대한 관리 = 44
• 제4절 선행연구 검토 = 47
• 1. 정서지능에 대한 선행연구 검토 = 47
• 2. 사회적 지지에 대한 선행연구 검토 = 50
• 3. 외상후 스트레스 장애 선행연구 검토 = 51
• 4. 각 변인들 간의 관계 = 55
• 제3장 연구의 설계 및 방법 = 59
• 제1절 연구의 모형과 가설 = 59
• 1. 연구의 모형 = 59
• 2. 연구의 가설 = 61
• 3. 변수의 조작적 정의 = 62
• 제2절 자료 수집 및 분석방법 = 67
• 1. 조사대상 및 자료수집 = 67
• 2. 분석방법 = 69
• 제4장 조사결과의 분석 및 논의 = 70
• 제1절 조사결과의 분석 = 70
• 1. 인구사회학적 기초통계량 = 70
• 2. 외상사건 경험 기초통계량 = 74
• 3. 주요 변인들의 기초통계량 = 82
• 4. 정서지능과 사회적 지지와의 관계 = 85
• 제2절 가설의 검정 = 86
• 1. 인구사회학적 특성과 외상후 스트레스 장애 = 86
• 2. 정서지능과 외상후 스트레스 장애 = 96
• 3. 사회적 지지와 외상후 스트레스 장애 = 100
• 4. 정서지능 및 사회적 지지와 외상후 스트레스 장애 = 104
• 제3절 분석결과의 논의 = 110
• 1. 인구사회학적 특성과 외상후 스트레스 장애 = 110
• 2. 정서지능 및 사회적 지지와 외상후 스트레스 장애 = 115
• 제5장 결론 및 제언 = 119
• 참고문헌 = 125
• Abstract = 148