Symposia
Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders and Disasters
Danielle M. Morabito, M.S.
Doctoral student
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida
Savannah J. Woller, B.S.
Research Assistant
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida
Brad B. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Florida State University, Psychology Department
Tallahassee, Florida
Anka A. Vujanovic, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Education
University of Houston - Department of Psychology
Houston, Texas
Background: Due to the nature of their occupation, firefighters are at elevated risk for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posing unique challenges for fire service leadership. Thus, recent work has focused on identifying vulnerability and protective factors and demographic correlates for PTSD in this population. The current study aimed to expand upon previous research by examining the associations between demographic factors, occupational stress, and PTSD symptoms among firefighters.
Methods: Volunteer, career, and combination firefighters (N = 525) completed an online survey which aimed to assess stress and health behaviors. Data were screened for validity (> 6 out of 8 validation items correct) and missingness. The final sample (n = 261; Mage = 40.29, SD = 9.73) was 92% male and 78.5% white. Individuals reported an average of 10.71 traumatic life event types, and 10.4% of the sample scored > 33 on the PCL-5, indicating probable PTSD.
Results: Hierarchical linear regressions, controlling for lifetime traumatic event exposure, demonstrated significant main effects of occupational stress (t = 4.36, β = .41, p < .001) and age (t = -2.72, β = -.41, p = .008) with regard to PTSD symptom severity. Results did not indicate main effects of years in fire service or other demographic factors (i.e., sex, race, ethnicity, marital status). Results demonstrated a significant interactive effect between occupational stress and age (t = -2.51, B = .02, p =.014) such that the relationship between occupational stress and PTSD symptoms was significant among younger but not older firefighters. Overall, younger firefighters with heightened occupational stress endorsed the highest levels of PTSD symptoms.
Conclusions: Consistent with prior literature, results indicate that occupational stress may be a significant correlate of PTSD among firefighters. Further, younger firefighters may be more vulnerable to the effects of occupational stress and generally at higher risk for developing PTSD symptoms. Importantly, these effects remained consistent while controlling for lifetime traumatic events, years in fire service, and other demographic factors. These findings may have important implications for targeted prevention and public policy. Future work is needed to examine whether the relatively higher PTSD symptoms in younger firefighters may be attributed to the nature of their work, age-related differences in cognition and behavior, or generational factors.