IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i12p7009-d833788.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Sowmya Kshtriya & Jacqueline Lawrence & Holly M. Kobezak & Paula J. Popok & Sarah Lowe, 2022. "Investigating Strategies of Emotion Regulation As Mediators of Occupational Stressors and Mental Health Outcomes in First Responders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7009-:d:833788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7009/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7009/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. João Leitão & Dina Pereira & Ângela Gonçalves, 2021. "Quality of Work Life and Contribution to Productivity: Assessing the Moderator Effects of Burnout Syndrome," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Pascal Jordan & Meike C Shedden-Mora & Bernd Löwe, 2017. "Psychometric analysis of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) in primary care using modern item response theory," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Silje Haga & Pål Kraft & Emma-Kate Corby, 2009. "Emotion Regulation: Antecedents and Well-Being Outcomes of Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression in Cross-Cultural Samples," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 271-291, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sonia OREFICCE & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2021. "Gender inequality in COVID-19 times: evidence from UK prolific participants," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 261-287, June.
    2. Laura Parte & Teresa Herrador-Alcaide, 2021. "Teaching Disruption by COVID-19: Burnout, Isolation, and Sense of Belonging in Accounting Tutors in E-Learning and B-Learning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-22, September.
    3. S. Balzarotti & F. Biassoni & D. Villani & A. Prunas & P. Velotti, 2016. "Individual Differences in Cognitive Emotion Regulation: Implications for Subjective and Psychological Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 125-143, February.
    4. N. Rickard & D. Vella-Brodrick, 2014. "Changes in Well-Being: Complementing a Psychosocial Approach with Neurobiological Insights," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 437-457, June.
    5. Prachi Sharma & Urmila Rani Srivastava, 2020. "Emotion Regulation and Job Satisfaction as Predictors of Subjective Well-being in Doctors," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 45(1), pages 7-14, February.
    6. Alparslan Kale & Zumrut Gedik, 2020. "Quality of Life in Riot Police: Links to Anger, Emotion Regulation, Depression, and Anxiety," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 107-125, March.
    7. Ming Chen & Rebecca Y. M. Cheung, 2021. "Testing Interdependent Self-Construal as a Moderator between Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Health among Emerging Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    8. Neerpal Rathi & Kidong Lee, 2021. "Does It Pay to Be Authentic? Implications of Authenticity for Life Satisfaction and Psychological Well-Being in a Collectivist Culture," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 147-161, January.
    9. De Cock, Robin & Denoo, Lien & Clarysse, Bart, 2020. "Surviving the emotional rollercoaster called entrepreneurship: The role of emotion regulation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    10. Ma. Janice J. Gumasing & Emil Renfred A. Rendon & Josephine D. German, 2023. "Sustainable Ergonomic Workplace: Fostering Job Satisfaction and Productivity among Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Workers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.
    11. Magdalena Marszał-Wiśniewska & Magdalena Nowicka, 2018. "Individual Differences in Mood Changes," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 1415-1438, June.
    12. Berta Schnettler & Marianela Denegri & Horacio Miranda & José Sepúlveda & Ligia Orellana & Galo Paiva & Klaus Grunert, 2015. "Family Support and Subjective Well-Being: An Exploratory Study of University Students in Southern Chile," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 833-864, July.
    13. Xiang Feng & Yaojia Wei & Xianglin Pan & Longhui Qiu & Yongmei Ma, 2020. "Academic Emotion Classification and Recognition Method for Large-scale Online Learning Environment—Based on A-CNN and LSTM-ATT Deep Learning Pipeline Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-16, March.
    14. UnYoung Chavez-Baldini & Marieke Wichers & Ulrich Reininghaus & Johanna T W Wigman & Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis Investigators, 2020. "Expressive suppression in psychosis: The association with social context," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-12, March.
    15. Dina Pereira & João Leitão & Ludovina Ramos, 2022. "Burnout and Quality of Work Life among Municipal Workers: Do Motivating and Economic Factors Play a Mediating Role?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Delfina Ramos & Teresa Cotrim & Pedro Arezes & João Baptista & Matilde Rodrigues & João Leitão, 2022. "Frontiers in Occupational Health and Safety Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-5, August.
    17. McColl-Kennedy, Janet R. & Danaher, Tracey S. & Gallan, Andrew S. & Orsingher, Chiara & Lervik-Olsen, Line & Verma, Rohit, 2017. "How do you feel today? Managing patient emotions during health care experiences to enhance well-being," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 247-259.
    18. Ibraheem M. Karaye & Nadia Koyratty & Stephanie Rogus & Lauren Clay, 2022. "Association between Food Worry and Self-Rated Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic," World, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-10, November.
    19. Yuping Liu-Thompkins & Shintaro Okazaki & Hairong Li, 2022. "Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: Bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1198-1218, November.
    20. Ling Chen & Xiqin Liu & Xiangrun Weng & Mingzhu Huang & Yuhan Weng & Haoran Zeng & Yifan Li & Danna Zheng & Caiqi Chen, 2023. "The Emotion Regulation Mechanism in Neurotic Individuals: The Potential Role of Mindfulness and Cognitive Bias," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-16, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7009-:d:833788. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.