IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcjust/v60y2019icp84-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A systematic and meta-analytic review of the literature on correctional officers: Identifying new avenues for research

Author

Listed:
  • Butler, H. Daniel
  • Tasca, Melinda
  • Zhang, Yan
  • Carpenter, Channing

Abstract

Scholarly interest in the experiences and behaviors of correctional officers has increased over the past several decades. Yet, considerably less is known about those who oversee and manage prison populations relative to other criminal justice professionals. In this study, we perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of 172 peer-reviewed articles published between 1980 and 2017 that include samples of correctional officers. The goal of this review is to “take stock” of the correctional officer literature in an effort to inform future research, policy, and practice. Specifically, we examine publication trends over the past several decades in addition to examining all outcomes across the included studies. We find that job satisfaction, job stress, and organizational commitment are the most frequently examined outcomes. Next, we examine the most commonly included correlates across each of these outcomes, which include age, female, white, education, experience, supervisor support, and peer support. Findings reveal that organizational factors such as supervisor support and peer support influence each of these outcomes, while demographic characteristics have mixed effects. Recommendations for future research include the need to examine other attitudes and experiences of correctional officers in addition to exploring variation in the effects examined in this review.

Suggested Citation

  • Butler, H. Daniel & Tasca, Melinda & Zhang, Yan & Carpenter, Channing, 2019. "A systematic and meta-analytic review of the literature on correctional officers: Identifying new avenues for research," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 84-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:60:y:2019:i:c:p:84-92
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.12.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004723521830312X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.12.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wright, Kevin N. & Saylor, William G., 1992. "A comparison of perceptions of the work environment between minority and non-minority employees of the federal prison system," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 63-71.
    2. Lambert, Eric G. & Hogan, Nancy L. & Jiang, Shanhe & Elechi, O. Oko & Benjamin, Barbaranne & Morris, Angela & Laux, John M. & Dupuy, Paula, 2010. "The relationship among distributive and procedural justice and correctional life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent: An exploratory study," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 7-16, January.
    3. Ariel M. Aloe & Betsy Jane Becker, 2012. "An Effect Size for Regression Predictors in Meta-Analysis," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 37(2), pages 278-297, April.
    4. Dowden, Craig & Tellier, Claude, 2004. "Predicting work-related stress in correctional officers: A meta-analysis," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 31-47.
    5. Huckabee, Robert G., 1992. "Stress in corrections: An overview of the issues," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 479-486.
    6. Dial, Kelly Cheeseman & Downey, Ragan A. & Goodlin, Wendi Elizabeth, 2010. "The job in the joint: The impact of generation and gender on work stress in prison," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 609-615, July.
    7. Botha, Christo & Pienaar, Jaco, 2006. "South African correctional official occupational stress: The role of psychological strengths," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 73-84.
    8. Lambert, Eric G. & Hogan, Nancy L. & Griffin, Marie L., 2007. "The impact of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 644-656, December.
    9. Zupan, Linda L., 1986. "Gender-related differences in correctional officers' perceptions and attitudes," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 349-361.
    10. Triplett, Ruth & Mullings, Janet L. & Scarborough, Kathryn E., 1996. "Work-related stress and coping among correctional officers: Implications from organizational literature," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 291-308.
    11. Griffin, Marie L. & Hepburn, John R., 2005. "Side-bets and reciprocity as determinants of organizational commitment among correctional officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 611-625.
    12. Armstrong, Gaylene S. & Griffin, Marie L., 2004. "Does the job matter? Comparing correlates of stress among treatment and correctional staff in prisons," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 577-592.
    13. Marcos Misis & Bitna Kim & Kelly Cheeseman & Nancy L. Hogan & Eric G. Lambert, 2013. "The Impact of Correctional Officer Perceptions of Inmates on Job Stress," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(2), pages 21582440134, May.
    14. Triplett, Ruth & Mullings, Janet L. & Scarborough, Kathryn E., 1999. "Examining the effect of work-home conflict on work-related stress among correctional officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 371-385, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cristiane S. C. Araújo & Ruth Minamisava & Marcos A. Matos & Camila C. F. Vieira & Priscila V. O. Vitorino & Dolors Rodríguez-Martín & Neuma Chaveiro & Lizete M. A. C. Oliveira & Virginia V. Brasil & , 2020. "Associated Factors of Quality of Life in Prison Officers, Brazil," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-12, May.
    2. Ellison, Jared M. & Caudill, Jonathan W., 2020. "Working on local time: Testing the job-demand-control-support model of stress with jail officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Katy Konyk & Rosemary Ricciardelli & Tamara Taillieu & Tracie O. Afifi & Dianne Groll & R. Nicholas Carleton, 2021. "Assessing Relative Stressors and Mental Disorders among Canadian Provincial Correctional Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-25, September.
    4. Ellison, Jared M. & Cain, Calli M. & Jaegers, Lisa A., 2022. "Just another day's work: The nexus between workplace experiences and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in jail settings," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lambert, Eric G. & Hogan, Nancy L. & Jiang, Shanhe & Elechi, O. Oko & Benjamin, Barbaranne & Morris, Angela & Laux, John M. & Dupuy, Paula, 2010. "The relationship among distributive and procedural justice and correctional life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent: An exploratory study," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 7-16, January.
    2. Lambert, Eric G. & Hogan, Nancy L. & Griffin, Marie L., 2007. "The impact of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 644-656, December.
    3. Marcos Misis & Bitna Kim & Kelly Cheeseman & Nancy L. Hogan & Eric G. Lambert, 2013. "The Impact of Correctional Officer Perceptions of Inmates on Job Stress," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(2), pages 21582440134, May.
    4. Botha, Christo & Pienaar, Jaco, 2006. "South African correctional official occupational stress: The role of psychological strengths," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 73-84.
    5. Ellison, Jared M. & Cain, Calli M. & Jaegers, Lisa A., 2022. "Just another day's work: The nexus between workplace experiences and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in jail settings," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Dowden, Craig & Tellier, Claude, 2004. "Predicting work-related stress in correctional officers: A meta-analysis," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 31-47.
    7. Armstrong, Gaylene S. & Griffin, Marie L., 2004. "Does the job matter? Comparing correlates of stress among treatment and correctional staff in prisons," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 577-592.
    8. Dial, Kelly Cheeseman & Downey, Ragan A. & Goodlin, Wendi Elizabeth, 2010. "The job in the joint: The impact of generation and gender on work stress in prison," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 609-615, July.
    9. Leonard Bright, 2022. "Why Does PSM Lead to Higher Work Stress? Exploring the Role that Organizational Identity Theory has on the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and External-Related Stress among Federal Gove," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 803-820, September.
    10. Cristiane S. C. Araújo & Ruth Minamisava & Marcos A. Matos & Camila C. F. Vieira & Priscila V. O. Vitorino & Dolors Rodríguez-Martín & Neuma Chaveiro & Lizete M. A. C. Oliveira & Virginia V. Brasil & , 2020. "Associated Factors of Quality of Life in Prison Officers, Brazil," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-12, May.
    11. Auerbach, Stephen M. & Quick, Ben G. & Pegg, Phillip O., 2003. "General job stress and job-specific stress in juvenile correctional officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 25-36.
    12. Mitchell, Ojmarrh & MacKenzie, Doris Layton & Gover, Angela R. & Styve, Gaylene J., 2001. "The influences of personal background on perceptions of juvenile correctional environments," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 67-76.
    13. Leonard Bright, 2021. "Does Person Organization Fit and Person-Job Fit Mediate the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Work Stress among U.S. Federal Employees?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13, April.
    14. Katy Konyk & Rosemary Ricciardelli & Tamara Taillieu & Tracie O. Afifi & Dianne Groll & R. Nicholas Carleton, 2021. "Assessing Relative Stressors and Mental Disorders among Canadian Provincial Correctional Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-25, September.
    15. Reza Esmaeilifar & Mohammad Iranmanesh & Mohd Wira Mohd Shafiei & Sunghyup Sean Hyun, 2020. "Effects of low carbon waste practices on job satisfaction of site managers through job stress," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 115-136, February.
    16. Ellison, Jared M. & Caudill, Jonathan W., 2020. "Working on local time: Testing the job-demand-control-support model of stress with jail officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    17. Ellison, Jared M. & Gainey, Randy, 2020. "An opportunity model of safety risks among jail officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Sheppard, Keller G. & Wilson, Michaela M. & Reddick, Lacey H. & Tucker, Garrett O. & Schwab, Ashley H., 2022. "Reducing staff burnout and turnover intentions in juvenile justice residential commitment programs: The promise of trauma-informed care," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Jin Lee & Robert Henning & Martin Cherniack, 2019. "Correction Workers’ Burnout and Outcomes: A Bayesian Network Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-14, January.
    20. Griffin, Marie L. & Hepburn, John R., 2005. "Side-bets and reciprocity as determinants of organizational commitment among correctional officers," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 611-625.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:60:y:2019:i:c:p:84-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcrimjus .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.