Social integration buffers stress in New York police after the 9/11 terrorist attack

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bowler RM ; Cone, James E. ; Schwarzer R
• Description:
  Being socially integrated is regarded as a protective factor enabling people to cope with adversity. The stress-buffering effect reflects an interaction between stress and a social coping resource factor on subsequent outcomes. This study, based on 2943 police officers, examines mental health outcomes among officers who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The Wave 1 data collection took place between September 2003 and November 2004 with a follow-up study (Wave 2) conducted from November 2006 through December 2007. A moderated mediation model was specified that uses event exposure as a distal predictor, earlier stress response as a mediator, and later stress response as an outcome, and social integration as a moderator of this relationship. The mediation hypothesis was confirmed, and moderation occurred at two stages. First, there was a multiplicative relationship between exposure levels and social integration: The higher the exposure level, the more stress responses occur, but this effect was buffered by a high level of social integration. Second, Wave 1 stress interacted with social integration on Wave 2 stress: The more the police officers were socially integrated, the lower the Wave 2 stress, which happened in a synergistic manner. The findings contribute to the understanding of mediating and moderating mechanisms that result in health outcomes such as posttraumatic stress disorder or resilience. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Law Enforcement Men Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Women
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Resilience Emergency-responders Exposure-levels Humans Law-enforcement-workers Mental-health Models Police-officers Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Social Integration Sociological-factors Stress Stress Buffer Trauma

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• ISSN:
  1061-5806
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  18-26
• Volume:
  27
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043551
• Citation:
  Anxiety Stress Coping 2014 Jan; 27(1):18-26
• Contact Point Address:
  Ralf Schwarzer, Department of Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Email:
  ralf.schwarzer@fu-berlin.de
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Health/Mental Hygiene
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090430
• Source Full Name:
  Anxiety, Stress and Coping
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9ae566c1521e7cb4a80b310b5db31775989165801a0cf0168bd096fa67279f78cf1b7662f141447242190af55d269c70cdb3e4c45539c7c6de9e87c3552a5d25
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195428/cdc_195428_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 403.77 KB ]