A Comparison of Firefighters and Police Officers: The Influence of Gender and Relationship Status

Differences between fire department and police department personnel (N = 190) concerning work-related stressors and depression were examined with regard to gender and relationship status. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (A. 77. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K Brown, 1996) and the Distressing Event Questionnaire (E. S. Kubany, M. B. Leisen, A. S. Kaplan, & M. P. Kelly, 2000). Recommendations are made concerning what crisis theories, both traditional and nontraditional, counselors should be aware of, as well as how simply working with trauma survivors can be traumatizing. E. Erikson's psychosocial stages (as cited in J. R. Studer, 2007) are considered in the framework of adult development. ********** Critical events are typically unpredictable and powerful; they can disrupt an entire community for an extended period of time. These events include natural disasters, such as hurricanes, and accidental disasters, such as airline crashes or house fires. Some disasters are deliberate and man made, such as terrorist attacks (Baum, Fleming, & Singer, 1983; Duckworth, 1991). In today's society, exposure to a traumatic or critical event is not highly unlikely. B. L. Green (1994) asserted, "up to three-quarters of the general population in the United States [have] been exposed to some event in their lifetime that might consensually be defined as traumatic" (p. 342). It is interesting to note that the majority of research regarding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) gives attention to direct victims. "Nearly all publications focusing on people confronted with extreme stress events exclude those who have experienced the event indirectly or secondarily and concentrate on those who were directly traumatized" (Figley & Kieber, 1995, p. 77). However, research that was focused on how critical incidents affect emergency personnel began emerging as early as 1980 (Stature, 1997). This development was important because emergency care workers are typically the first to respond to a critical incident or disaster, particularly workers providing fire and police services (Duckworth, 1991). Ursano, Fullerton, and Norwood (1995) identified emergency care workers, children, heroes, and the physically wounded as being at higher risk for developing psychiatric symptoms subsequent to experiencing high levels of stress. There has been growing concern about the impact of critical events on emergency personnel. Emergency care workers such as firefighters and police officers are at higher risk for psychological disorders and substandard work performance than are individuals in the general population (Figley, 1995; Haslam & Mallon, 2003; McCann & Pearlman, 1990; Rudolph, Stamm, & Stamm, 1997; Ursano et al., 1995). Work stress affects emergency personnel (Dei Ben, Scotti, Chen, & Fortson, 2006; O'Driscoll & Cooper, 1994). Many variables may influence how firefighters or law enforcement officers react to and manage the stress of their employment. Variables considered for this article included gender and involvement in an emotionally significant relationship. GENDER AND TRAUMA EXPOSURE Few studies in the literature explore the direct effects of gender in response to trauma. This is significant, because the number of women entering trauma-related fields that have been traditionally dominated by men is growing. In 1970, women were only 2% of the police force (Price, 1996). The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS; n.d.) reported that women compose 14.7% of the national police workforce. The number of female firefighters continues to grow; in 2008, 4.8% of firefighters were women (BLS, n.d.). Gender may influence the development of psychopathology subsequent to traumatic events. Women have twice the rate of PTSD that men have after a critical incident (Breslau et al., 1998; Tucker, Pfefferbaum, Nixon, & Dickson, 2000). Norris (1992) asserted that women were more vulnerable to developing PTSD became they perceive that their lives are more stressful than those of men. …