When Police Officers Show Lack of Self-control at Home, It Can Predict Use of Deadly Force at Work

Police officers are in one of the most stressful occupations in America. When they go to work, they don't know what they might encounter — or whether they will return home safely.Like the rest of us, they likely struggle to keep their work stress from coming home with them — and to keep crises in their personal lives from spilling over into the job. But our work selves and our personal selves are not so easy to separate.A groundbreaking new study from researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas underscores the link: It found that officers struggling with divorce, debt and other factors linked to lack of self-control are more likely to use deadly force on the job. The study, published in the journal Police Quarterly, focused on indicators in officers' personal lives that might lead an officer to use deadly force, and the results are revealing: Researchers measured eight indicators of self-control. Each one an officer displayed increased his or her likelihood of being involved in a shooting by 21 percent.   Continue reading...