Occupational stress and anger: Mediating effects of resiliency in first responders

Jessie N. Doyle, Dr. Mary Ann Campbell, and Dr. Caroline Brunelle
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick

​First responders experience substantial stress due to the nature of their work (Carleton et al., 2017), including occupational stress (OS; Osipow, 1998). OS can lead to maladaptive anger, which negatively impacts personal well-being and work performance (Velichkovsky, 2009). In contrast, resilience to demanding working conditions is associated with lower state and trait anger (Wilson et al., 2012); thus, resilience may serve a protective ‘buffer’ role against anger i the face of stress. Thus, we hypothesized that resiliency would mediate relations between aspects of OS and anger in first responders. As part of a wellness survey of Atlantic Canadian first responders (N = 201, 77.6% Male; Mage = 43.73 yrs; SD = 10.97; police officers = 64.2%), respondents completed measures of OS (OSI-R; Osipow, 1998), Anger (DSM-5 CC Anger; APA, 2014), and Resiliency (CD-RISC; Connor & Davidson, 2003). Collapsed across all employee roles, results indicated that resilience mediated relations between five components of OS and anger: role overload, insufficiency, role boundary, role ambiguity, and role responsibility. These findings support the value of resiliency-enhancing interventions to offset anger when confronted with occupational stress in first responder organizations.