Lawyers’ Problems and their Relationship with Perceived Stress and Occupational Burnout: A Study on Lawyers Practicing Civil and Criminal Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47067/real.v3i3.100Keywords:
Lawyers, Problems, Financial Problems, BurnoutAbstract
The major objectives of the study were to identify the level of perceived stress and burnout among lawyers and to elucidate the relationship between various occupational problems among civil and criminal lawyers. The mediating effect between lawyers’ perception of problems, with respect to nature of specialization (i.e. criminal and civil law), perceived stress and burnout was also studied. This cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted on a sample of N = 535 criminal and civil court lawyers, n = 255 (47.7%) and n = 280 (52.3%), respectively. Lawyers Perception of Problem Scale (LPPS), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OBI) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were administered. A positive relationship between occupational stress and occupational burnout was found. The criminal court lawyers reported higher stress and more family problems than the civil court lawyers. Highly experienced lawyers have reported lesser levels of stress. Results from multiple regression show that financial problems and police involvement significantly predict occupational stress. A mediating effect of perceived problems was also found between type of specialization and stress and burnout. Overall, less experienced and criminal court lawyers face more problems related to family, finances, and security, and they also perceive more stress and burnout.
References
Allen, T. D. (2001). Family supportive work environments: The role of organizational perceptions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58(1), 415–433.
Anderson, N. B., & Anderson, P. E. (2003). Emotional longevity. New York: Viking.
Baum, A. (1990). Stress, intrusive imagery, and chronic distress. Health Psychology, 6(1), 653-675.
Bromberger, J. T., & Matthews, K. A. (1996). A longitudinal study of the effects of pessimism, trait anxiety, and life stress on depressive symptoms in middle-aged women. Psychology and Aging, 11(2), 207-210.
Çekmecelioglu, H. G. (2013). Investigation of the factors affecting role stress of chemical industry managers in Turkey. Journal of Global Strategic Management, 14(1), 78-85.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., and Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 386-396.
Cox, T., & Mackay, C. (1976). A psychological model of occupational stress. Paper presented to the Medical Research Council. Mental Health in Industry, London, November.
Demerouti, E., and Nachreiner, F. (1998). Zur spezifität von burnout für dienstleistungsberufe: Fakt oder artefakt? [The specificity of burnout in human services: Fact or artifact?]. Z. Arbeitswiss. 52, 82–89.
Dimsdale, J. E., & Moss, J. (1980) Short term catecholamine response to psychological stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 42, 493-497.
Elder, E., Johnston, A. N. B., Wallis, M., Greenslade, J. H., & Crilly, J. (2019). Emergency clinician perceptions of occupational stressors and coping strategies: A multi-site study. International Emergency Nursing, 45, 17-24. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2019.03.006
Freudenberger, H. J. (1972). Fathers, mothers and children: A portrait. Voices, 57-63.
Hasnain, N., Naz, I., & Bano, S. (2010). Stress and well-being of lawyers. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied psychology, 36(1), 165-168.
Hopkins, V. M. (2011). The mediating role of work engagement and burnout in the relationship between job characteristics and psychological distress among lawyers. (unpulished Master dissertation) Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
IBM. (2012). IBM SPSS statistics for windows (Version 21). Armonk, NY.
Jackson, S., Schwab, R., & Schuler, R. (1986).Toward an understanding of the burnout phenomenon. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(4), 630-640 doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.71.4.630 .
Jex, M. (2002). Organizational Psychology. A scientist-practioner approach.John Willey & Sons.
Jones, F., Bright, J., & Clow, A. (2001). Stress: Myth, theory and research. Pearson Education.
Krill, P. R., Johnson, R., & Albert, L. (2016). The prevalence of substance use and other mental health concerns among American attorneys. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 10(1), 46-49.
Kriti A. Patel, Shekhar S. Rajderkar, Jayashree D. Naik, & Vivek S. (2004). Occupational stress, role overload, role ambiguity, and role conflict. Indian Journal of Occupational Environment. 18(2), 68–74.
Lambert, R., Boyle, L., Fitchett, P., & McCarthy, C. (2019). Risk for occupational stress among U.S. kindergarten teachers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 61(2), 13-20. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2018.07.003
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Ma, C. C., Andrew, M. E., Fekedulegn, D., Gu, J. K., Hartley, T. A., Charles, L. E., & Burchfiel, C. M. (2015). Shift work and occupational stress in police officers. Safety and Health at Work, 6(1), 25-29. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2014.10.001
Maslach, C. (2001). What have we learned about burnout and health? Psychology and Health, 16 (5), 607-611. doi:10.1080/08870440108405530
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (1997). The truth about burnout. New York. Jossey-Bass.
Maslach, C., Leiter, M. P., & Schaufeli, W. (2009). Measuring burnout. In S. Cartwright & C. C. Cooper (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of organizational well-being (pp. 86-108). New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc.
Mire, S. L., & Owens, R. (2014). A propitious moment: Workplace bullying and regulation of the legal profession. UNSWLJ, 37(4), 1030-1037.
Paisley, K., & Powell, G. M. (2007). Staff burn-out prevention and stress management. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 16(4), 829-841.
Peters, J.K., Portnoy, S., M. A. Silver, M.A. (2004). Stress, burnout, vicarious trauma, and other emotional realities in the lawyer/client relationship. Touro Law Review, 19(3), 848–872.
Qureshi, M. A. (2020). Lawyers’ problems and their relationship with occupational stress and occupational burnout: A study on lawyers practicing civil and criminal law. (unpublished PhD dissertation), Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islambad.
Rothmann, S., Van Der Colff, J. J., & Rothmann, J. C. (2006). Occupational stress of nurses in South Africa. Curationis, 29(3), 24-25..
Ruotsalainen, J. H., Verbeek, J. H., Mariné, A., & Serra, C. (2015). Preventing occupational stress in healthcare workers. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 4, CD002892. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002892.pub5
Sandstrom, A., Rhodin, I.N., Lundberg M., Olsson T., & Nyberg L. (2005). Impaired cognitive performance in patients with chronic burnout syndrome. Biological Psychology, 69(3), 271-279. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.08.003
Schaufeli, W. B., & Buunk, B. P. (2003). Burnout: An overview of 25 years of research and theorizing. In M. J. Schabracq, J. A. M. Winnubst, & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Handbook of Work and Health Psychology (pp. 383-425). West Sussex, UK: Wiley.
Wallace, J. E. (2002). Juggling it all: Exploring lawyers' work, home, and family demands and coping strategies. Report of Stage One Findings. LSAC Research Report Series.
Young, M., Schieman, S., & Milkie, M. A. (2014). Spouse’s work-to-family conflict, family stressors, and mental health among dual-earner mothers and fathers. Society and Mental Health, 4(1), 1-20.
