Cardiovascular risk as a moderator of associations among anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, PTSD and depression symptoms among trauma-exposed firefighters
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were 836 trauma-exposed firefighters (93.90% men; with mean age 38 years, [SD = 9]) enrolled in a study investigating stress and health-related behaviors in professional firefighters. All firefighters were recruited from a large metropolitan area fire department in the southern Unites States where firefighters perform both fire suppression and emergency medical services. Individuals were eligible for the current study if they were over the age of 18 years old and endorsed exposure
Results
In step one of the main model, we accounted for the covariance of AS and DT, and the covariance of PTSD and depression symptoms; we regressed both PTSD symptoms and depression on both AS and DT. Fit for this model was excellent. All parameters were significant (see Table 3). AS was positively related to PTSD and depression symptoms, and negatively related to DT. DT was negatively related to PTSD and depression symptoms. The model accounted for 22% of the variance in PTSD symptoms and 26% of the
Discussion
The present investigation sought to examine cardiovascular risk as a potential moderator of the associations between cognitive-affective risk factors (i.e., AS and DT), and symptoms of PTSD and depression in a sample of trauma-exposed, active duty firefighters. In line with our hypothesis, firefighters with high cardiovascular risk evidenced significantly stronger associations between AS and PTSD symptoms, relative to those with low cardiovascular risk. Sharp & Harvey [50] posited that
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors have no competing interests to report.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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