PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use among firefighters: The role of emotion regulation difficulties
Abstract
Objective Heightened rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol use have been documented among firefighters. Emotion regulation difficulties (ERD) are clinically relevant to both PTSD and alcohol use. Few studies have examined the role of ERD in the association of PTSD symptoms with alcohol use severity and alcohol use motives among firefighters. Thus, the present investigation examined the indirect effect of PTSD symptom severity on alcohol use severity and alcohol use motives through ERD.Methods The sample was comprised of 685 firefighters (Mage = 38.65, SD = 8.57, 93.6% male) recruited from an urban fire department in the southern U.S. to complete an online survey. Indirect effects were calculated using 10,000 bootstrapped samples. Effects were examined after accounting for years of fire service, occupational stress, trauma load (i.e., number of traumatic event types experienced); in models evaluating alcohol use motives as outcomes, other alcohol use motives (i.e., alternate motives subscales) were included as additional covariates.Results First, ERD explained the association of PTSD symptom severity with alcohol use coping motives (β = .01, SE = .003, 95% CI [.004-.01]). Furthermore, ERD did not significantly account for the association of PTSD symptom severity with alcohol use severity (β = .02, SE = .01, 95% CI [-.004-.04]), alcohol use enhancement motives (β = −.003, SE = .002, 95%CI [-.007-.000]), alcohol use social motives (β = .004, SE = .002, 95% CI [-.000-.01]), or alcohol use conformity motives (β = −.002, SE = .002, 95% CI [-.006-.02]).Conclusions Results demonstrated that, among firefighters, PTSD symptom severity is positively related to alcohol use coping motives through heightened ERD. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.
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Emotional regulation may explain the association between PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use as a coping mechanism in firefighters.
“Recent evidence suggests emotional regulation may explain the association between PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use as a coping mechanism in firefighters [116].”
From The Cyclical Battle of Insomnia and Mental Health Impairment in Firefighters: A Narrative Review (2024) · cites this paper as [116]
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- Authors
- Leonard, S. J., McGrew, S. J., Lebeaut, A., & Vujanovic, A. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Houston (US)
- Corresponding author
- Vujanovic, Anka A.
- Venue
- Journal of Dual Diagnosis
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2023-10-02
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 209-220
- ISSN
- 1550-4263 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-4271
- OpenAlex
- W4387394592
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 2.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Dual Diagnosis (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Performance
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD symptom severity, alcohol consumption, firefighters, emotional dysregulation, drinking motives, coping motives, occupational injuries, trauma exposure, occupational stress
- MeSH terms
- Emotional Regulation, Alcohol Drinking, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Firefighters
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