THIS JOB IS KILLING ME: THE IMPACT OF JOB CHARACTERISTICS ON CORRECTIONAL STAFF JOB STRESS

Working in a correctional institute is often a demanding and stressful job. This study examined the impact of job characteristics and job involvement on correctional staff job stress. Specifically, the effects of supervision, perceived dangerousness of the job, job variety, feedback, role stress, and job involvement were studied, while controlling for the effects of the personal characteristics of gender, educational level, race, age, and tenure. Using Ordinary Least Squared regression, it was observed that gender, age, perceived dangerousness of the job, feedback, role stress, and job involvement had statistically significant effects on correctional staff job stress. Tenure, educational level, race, supervision, and job variety had non-significant effects.