Coping strategies and social support as moderators of occupational stress and mental health link among police personnel

BACKGROUND: The occupation of police personnel is known to be enormously stressful. The occupational stress research shows that coping strategies and social support have a buffering effect on stress and a protective role on mental health. The present research study was set out to investigate the role of coping strategies and social support as moderating factors of the relationship between occupational stress and mental health in police personnel of Uttar Pradesh in terms of their ranking. METHODOLOGY: The present cross-sectional study was conducted using standardized questionnaires. The sample comprised a total of 300 male police personnel. Hundred constables, 100 inspectors, and 100 officers were incidentally selected from six districts of Uttar: Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut, Raebareli, Ghaziabad, and Noida. RESULTS: Study results showed coping strategies and social support to have a moderating effect on the relationship between stress and mental health in inspectors and officers but failed to show such relationship in constables. CONCLUSION: There is the implication for the training in terms of teaching-specific active and adaptive coping strategies for the management of workplace-related stress and promotion of health and well-being in the police personnel.