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A Comparison of Law Enforcement Divorce Rates with Those of Other Occupations

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Abstract

It is a common belief that the divorce rate for police officers is higher than that of the general population. This belief is commonly held in spite of the fact that there is no empirical research supporting such a belief. To compare the divorce rate of law enforcement personnel with the rates for other occupations, we analyzed data from the 2000 U.S. Census. The results of this analysis indicate that the divorce rate for law enforcement personnel is lower than that of the general population, even after controlling for demographic and other job-related variables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Radford University, Radford, VA, 24142-6946, USA

    Shawn P. McCoy & Michael G. Aamodt

Authors
  1. Shawn P. McCoy
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  2. Michael G. Aamodt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael G. Aamodt.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Complete list of occupations and divorce/separation rates
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McCoy, S.P., Aamodt, M.G. A Comparison of Law Enforcement Divorce Rates with Those of Other Occupations. J Police Crim Psych 25, 1–16 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-009-9057-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-009-9057-8

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