Predicting psychological well-being from job demands and marital status of police personnel in Ondo State: a peace perspective

Abstract

Previous studies have focused on the extent to which job demands affect psychological well-being. However, few studies, especially in Nigeria, have investigated the psychological well-being of police personnel from peace perspective. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which psychological well-being can be predicted from job demands and marital status of police personnel in Ondo state using the integrative theory of peace. A total of 194 police personnel (126 males; 68 females) were selected for the study using purposive and accidental sampling techniques. Their ages ranged from 18 to 53 years with a mean age of 37.18years (SD = 7.54). The results of the hierarchical multiple regression showed that job demands significantly predicted psychological well-being in such a way that employees who reported high level of job demands had a low level of psychological well-being. Marital status significantly predicted psychological well-being in such a way that police personnel who were married had higher psychological well-being than those who were single despite high level of job demands. In order to improve the psychological well-being of police personnel, organisation-specific intervention that would help in improving the psychological well-being of police personnel in Nigeria should be provided by Ministry of police Affairs. In addition, police personnel should be trained on how to cope with stress that may result from job demands. Such training may include stress management training.

Keywords: Job demand, marital status, Psychological well-being, Nigeria, police personnel, Integrative theory of peace