Investigating Strategies of Emotion Regulation As Mediators of Occupational Stressors and Mental Health Outcomes in First Responders

Sowmya Kshtriya, Jacqueline Lawrence, Holly M. Kobezak, Paula J. Popok and Sarah Lowe
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Sowmya Kshtriya: Department of Psychology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA
Jacqueline Lawrence: Department of Psychology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA
Holly M. Kobezak: Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
Paula J. Popok: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Sarah Lowe: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06510, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether two emotion regulation strategies, expressive suppression or cognitive reappraisal, mediated the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression (MD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in first responders (FR) who experienced occupational stressors, using cross-sectional data. An aggregate of 895 first responders (M = 37.32, SD = 12.09, 59.2% male, 91.3% Caucasian) who were recruited through professional organizations and social media sites across North and South American states participated in an online Qualtrics survey. Bivariate correlation analyses demonstrated that occupational stressors were positively correlated with expressive suppression and each mental health outcome but were not significantly correlated with cognitive reappraisal. Mediation analyses demonstrated expressive suppression as a significant mediator between occupational stressors and PTSD, MD, and GAD symptoms, but not cognitive reappraisal. Even though these findings are in purview of a cross-sectional research design, they suggest the importance of practices that bolster first responders’ ability to use more effective and adaptive emotion regulation strategies such as emotion expression, effective communication, and cognitive reappraisal that might help enhance psychological resilience.

Keywords: first responders; emotion regulation; expressive suppression; cognitive reappraisal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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