Home⇛College of Computing, Arts and Sciences⇛vol. 1 no. 1 (2024)

Emotion Regulation Strategies as a Moderator for Sadism and Aggression among Police Officers

Joven D. Bayeta | Michaela A. Pamarang | Christina Isabel A. Ponce

Discipline: Applied Psychology

 

Abstract:

In the Philippines, controversies such as police brutality and coercive policing have been reported over the years, which inspired the researchers to resolve these objectives: To describe the demographic profile of the respondents; to measure the variables; to test their differences when grouped according to profile; to establish a relationship between the variables; to examine the role of emotion regulation strategies as a moderator between sadism and aggression; and to propose an enhancement program. The study used a mixed methods sequential explanatory design and employed purposive sampling to gather 127 respondents. Profile distribution shows that the respondents preferred cognitive reappraisal over expressive suppression. They all scored within the normal range for sadism and aggression, except female officers who scored outside the normal range for the physical aggression subscale. For significant differences, sex significantly influenced expressive suppression and both dimensions of sadism. Unit placement significantly influenced expressive suppression while educational attainment significantly influenced direct sadism and anger. Moreover, cognitive reappraisal was negatively correlated with direct and vicarious sadism, and anger, while both dimensions of sadism and all components of aggression were significantly correlated with one another. Moderation analysis shows that both emotion regulation strategies moderated the relationship between direct sadism and hostility. Qualitative data resulted in the following themes: constructive coping tactics for emotion regulation strategies, police powers for sadism, and justification on the use of force continuum for aggression. The researchers proposed mindfulness-based activities to address physical aggression among female police officers.



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