This study had four aims. First, it intended to detect the high
risk police group and the risk variables of police cynicism and
burnout. Second, it attempted to link police character, cyni-
cism and burnout into a causal model. Third, it compared
several causal developmental process path models of police
burnout in order to ascertain whether different types of
policemen were different from each other in terms of
developmentalprocess.Forth, it offered an empirical test of the
police cynicism/character and burnout relationship to
demonstrate whether the police cynicism theory
Niederhoffer(1967) proposed was applicable for all kinds of
policemen. In order to accomplish the above objectives, this
study const- ructed three instruments: "Police Character
Scale", "Police Cyni- cism Scale" and "Police Burnout Scale".
Data were collected from 1510 Taiwan policemen aged 20 to 65
yr, from different education levels and ranks. Main findings of
this study were as follows: 1.The high risk group were the
police who was youger, lesser work experiences, lower ranks,
not married, divorced or separated from his spouse,and the
police who perceived not to be provided opportunities for
further education was also included.Especial- ly, if these
policemen''s emotionality score and cynical hostil- ity score
were high,then they would incure cynicism and burnout more
easily. 2.There were differnces within defferent kinds of
policemen''s burnout deveolpmental processes. 3.The police
character, cynicism and burnout could be linked into a causal
model as the priori hypothesis suggested. 4.The resultes of
this study verified Niederhoffer(1967)''s theory on police
cynicism.