Psychological Need Structures of Law Enforcement Officers

Abstract

Hypothesizing that a relationship exists between personality and occupational choice, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was employed to assess need differences for a sample of 33 metropolitan police officers, Edwards' adult male, and male college normative groups. Comparison with the adult male population indicates this police sample score higher on needs for achievement, exhibitionism, and heterosexuality. They score lower on needs for abasement, affiliation, deference, endurance, nurturance, and order. Comparisons with the male college normative population show this sample of police personnel differs in having a lower affiliation need. A discussion of these findings with those of two previous studies was undertaken. The common findings of the three studies suggest that compared to the male general population, police officers have higher needs for exhibitionism and heterosexuality and a lower need for affiliation. Further studies are necessary for clarification.