Citation

Bartlett BA, Jardin C, Martin C, Tran JK, Buser S, Anestis MD, Vujanovic AA. Cognit. Ther. Res. 2018; 42(4): 483-496.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10608-018-9892-y

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Firefighters report high rates of suicidality and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This investigation explored the moderating role of distress tolerance (DT) in the association between PTSD symptomatology and suicidality in firefighters. Covariates included trauma load, depressive symptom severity, gender, race, age, and education. The sample was comprised of 765 (94.0% male; M age = 38.8, SD = 8.6) trauma-exposed firefighters who completed a questionnaire battery. Structural equation modeling was employed. PTSD symptom severity was significantly, positively associated with global suicide risk, suicidal ideation/attempt, frequency of suicidal ideation, lifetime threat of suicide, and perceived likelihood of future suicide attempts. Lower levels of DT were significantly associated with higher frequency of past-year suicidal ideation. Significant interactive effects were noted; firefighters with higher levels of PTSD symptom severity and low levels of DT had the highest levels of global suicide risk and perceived likelihood of future suicide attempt. Clinical and research implications are discussed. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; Trauma; human; Suicide; female; male; Firefighters; PTSD; suicidal ideation; depression; suicide attempt; disease severity; health behavior; structural equation modeling; posttraumatic stress disorder; major clinical study; controlled study; symptomatology; self report; emergency health service; race difference; Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; Article; test retest reliability; gold standard; Distress tolerance; fire fighter; distress tolerance; physical tolerance