Perceived Social Support and Longitudinal Trajectories of Depression and Anxiety in World Trade Center Responders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dasaro CR ; de Haan L ; DePierro J ; Feder A ; Pietrzak PH ; Pijnenburg LJ ; Todd AC ; Velikonja T ; Velthorst E
• Description:
  Purpose: While severely distressing events are known to affect mental health adversely, some survivors develop only short-lived or no psychiatric symptoms in the aftermath of a disaster. In the WTC Health Program General Responder Cohort (WTCHP GRC) we examined whether social support was protective against the development of depression or anxiety symptoms after the 9/11 WTC attacks and explored in a subsample whether trait resilience moderated this relationship. Methods: We analyzed data from 14,033 traditional and 13,478 non-traditional responders who attended at least three periodic health monitoring visits between 2002 and 2019. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9; PHQ-9) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder screener; GAD-7) scores. In a subsample of 812 participants, we also assessed if the association between social support and symptoms was moderated by an individual's trait resilience level (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, CD-RISC). Results: For both traditional and non-traditional responders, perceived social support around 9/11 was associated with lower levels of depressive (β = - 0.24, S.E. = 0.017, z = - 14.29, p < 0.001) and anxiety symptoms (β = - 0.17, S. E. = 0.016, z = - 10.48, p < 0.001). Trait resilience scores were higher in responders with at least one source of social support during the aftermath of 9/11 compared to those without (mean 71.56, SD 21.58 vs mean 76.64, SD 17.06; β = 5.08, S.E. = 0.36, p < 0.001). Trait resilience moderated the association between social support and depressive (p < 0.001) and anxiety trajectories (p < 0.001) for traditional responders. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that perceived social support around a severely distressing event may have long-term protective effects on symptoms of depression and anxiety. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cohort Studies Epidemiology Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks
• Keywords:
  Anxiety Author Keywords: Depression Cohort Studies Disaster Disaster Response Longitudinal Study Mental Health Psychological Effects Resilience Social Support World Trade Center World Trade Center Attacks WTC

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• ISSN:
  0933-7954
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; New York ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  59
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069382
• Citation:
  Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2024 Aug; 59(8):1413-1424
• Contact Point Address:
  Lisa J. Pijnenburg, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Email:
  l.j.pijnenburg@amsterdamumc.nl
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  City University of New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20170401
• Source Full Name:
  Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20210331
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f6e54355cf8aad0ede694e7376cf8b85d26d88b5a173dc1ad3d980d0d73edecabc55b56d6e770e42052c7c1844db2bc0c1b889bd097a662865edd9d383c41cca
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207871/cdc_207871_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 658.40 KB ]