Psychological distress and alcohol use among fire fighters.
Few studies have investigated stressors to which fire fighters are subjected and the potential psychological consequences. One hundred and forty-five fire fighters were studied to enumerate potential occupational stressors, assess psychological distress and problems with alcohol use, and determine whether a relationship exists between these measures and self-reported stressors. Hearing that children are in a burning building was the highest ranked stressor. According to three self-report instruments, between 33 and 41% of the fire fighters were experiencing significant psychological distress, and 29% had possible or probable problems with alcohol use. These figures are significantly higher than would be expected in a typical community or working population. In a logistic regression analysis, no relationship was found between measures of psychological distress and alcohol use and the 10 most highly ranked work stressors.
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Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226.
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D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology