ABSTRACT
Few issues in psychology have been as pervasive as the one concerning the interaction between an individual and his or her environment (Schneider, 2001). Importantly, the implications of this interaction are quite pronounced in emergency and community services. For instance, a peace officer may have a temperament better suited to financial crimes than to traffic control and therefore function better in a unit focused on such crimes. Some emergency responders may prefer trauma calls, while others prefer medical calls; some firefighters may choose to work in locations where wildland fires are common, while others are better suited to structural fire scenarios. The common trend in these cases is that success in each situation depends in part on the harmony between the individuals and environmental factors present in their jobs. This idea of harmony is known as person-environment fit, defined as the congruence, match, compatibility, or similarity between the person and his or her environment (Kristof-Brown and Guay, 2011).
