Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

2011, Vol. 3, No. 1, 8 15

2011 American Psychological Association

1942-9681/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0020588

Personal and Environmental Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress in

Emergency Management Professionals
Jean M. LaFauci Schutt and Sylvia A. Marotta

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This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

The George Washington University

Among first responders and other emergency workers in the disaster ecology, an understudied group is
that of emergency management professionals (EMP). These individuals share many of the same role
conflicts and ambiguities as do health care workers and as a group have been part of national discussions
about their role in post-Katrina recovery. Though they have frequent exposures to professional stressors,
little is known about the personality traits, cultural issues, and role conflicts that might contribute to their
ability to withstand posttraumatic stress symptoms or to grow from their work roles. This research
explored 3 models that attempt to explain how previously identified personality traits and role issues such
as trauma exposure, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among similar helpers and first responders
might predict posttraumatic stress symptoms in EMPs. A sample of 197 participants was recruited using
an online methodology, and data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. The results supported a
model containing neuroticism and extraversion, trauma exposure frequency, burnout, and compassion
satisfaction, accounting for the most variance in predicting PTSD symptoms. Neuroticism, burnout, and
compassion satisfaction were found to be significant individual positive predictors, whereas ethnic
identity did not significantly contribute to variance or serve as a moderator with trauma exposure.
Keywords: posttraumatic stress, repeated exposure, emergency management

The helpers that have been studied in the last 15 years include
mental health professionals (Chrestman, 1995), medical professionals (Epstein, Fullerton, & Ursano, 1998), and disaster workers
or volunteers (Grieger et al., 2000; Simons, Gaher, Jacobs, Meyer,
& Johnson-Jimenez, 2005). Researchers have focused on exposure
rates (Grieger et al., 2000), development of PTSD and other
disorders (Fullerton, Ursano, & Leming Wang, 2004; Grieger et
al., 2000; Simons et al., 2005; Zimering, Gulliver, Knight,
Munore, & Keane, 2006), and associations between demographic
and individual factors (Fullerton et al., 2004; Grieger et al., 2000;
Simons et al., 2005). The research has found that greater exposure
frequency (Eriksson, Vande Kemp, Gorsuch, Hoke, & Foy, 2001)
and previous exposure to trauma or disasters (Akbayrak et al.,
2005; Fullerton et al., 2004) is often associated with increased
symptoms or risk for PTSD, whereas the research on the relationship between demographic variables and symptomology has produced mixed results.
Researchers who study first responder professions such as firefighters (e.g., North et al., 2002), paramedics (e.g., Alexander &
Klein, 2001), and police (e.g., Hodgins, Creamer, & Bell, 2001)
have examined variables similar to those studied in helping professionals. For first responders, a greater degree of exposure to a
critical incident (e.g., type and severity of work activity) is related
to an increased posttraumatic stress response immediately following response to a disaster (Weiss, Marmar, Metzler, & Ronfeldt,
1995) and years later (Marmar et al., 1999). Individual predictors
of posttraumatic stress reactions have also included emotional
exhaustion, dissociation, negative attitudes toward emotional expression, and helplessness (Bryant & Harvey, 1996; Carlier, Lamberts, & Gersons, 1997; Hodgins, Creamer, & Bell, 2001; Lowry
& Stokes, 2005).

Among first responders and other emergency workers in the

disaster ecology, an understudied group is that of emergency
management professionals (EMP). EMPs work in disaster sites,
deal with people in crisis, and disrupt their everyday work routines
as do other responders. They share many of the same role conflicts
and ambiguities as do health care workers, and as a group their role
in post-Katrina recovery was evaluated poorly in major media.
Though they have frequent exposures to professional stressors,
little is known about the personality traits, cultural issues, and role
conflicts that might contribute to their ability to withstand posttraumatic stress symptoms or to grow from their work roles. Much
has been written about the occupational hazard of crisis work in
helping and first responder professionals where the risk for negative outcomes is evident (e.g., Perrin, DiGrande, Wheeler, Thorpe,
Farfel, & Brackbill, 2007; Roberts, Flannelly, & Figley, 2003).
Because there is little research on EMPs as a unified profession the
purpose of this article is to extrapolate, from the literature on other
helping professionals and first responders, those variables which
might be presumed to have predictive and explanatory value in the
association between repeated exposures to extreme stressors and
the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms in emergency
management professionals.
This article was published Online First January 31, 2011.
Jean M. LaFauci Schutt and Sylvia A. Marotta, Department of Counseling and Human Development, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, The George Washington University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jean M.
LaFauci Schutt, Department of Counseling and Human Development,
Graduate School of Education and Human Development, The George
Washington University, 2134 G Street, NW, Suite 314, Washington, DC
20052. E-mail: jlafauci@gwu.edu
8

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POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

At the level of individual differences, as conceptualized using

the Five-Factor model of personality, it appears that the most
variance in symptoms that follow exposure is accounted for by
neuroticism and extraversion (Moran & Shakespeare-Finch, 2003).
Many studies have found evidence for neuroticisms positive relationship to posttraumatic stress symptoms (e.g., Chung, Berger,
Jones, & Rudd, 2006) whereas extraversion has some evidence for
an inverse relationship to the same (Fauerbach, Lawrence,
Schmidt, Munster, & Costa, 2000). It seems evident that one of the
most consistent findings is that internal personality and external
event-associated factors such as level of exposures can affect
symptom development.
In considering symptomology, a full PTSD diagnosis is uncommon among first responders and other helpers; however, other
outcomes of repeated exposures include compassion fatigue secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion satisfaction (e.g., Conrad & Keller-Guenther, 2006; Jacobson, 2006),
and this body of research has explored prevalence levels, preexisting individual differences, and work environment factors.
Among the findings in this research are that burnout and compassion fatigue secondary traumatic stress have been found to be
positively related to each other whereas compassion fatigue/
secondary traumatic stress and burnout are usually negatively
related to compassion satisfaction (e.g., Simon, Pryce, Roff, &
Klemmack, 2005). Although EMPs share the role of frequent
onsite crisis work and listen to repeated stories of exposures as do
the other more well-researched professions, little is known about
either posttraumatic symptoms or burnout and satisfaction among
EMPs. In summary, there is the potential for burnout and compassion fatigue as well as compassion satisfaction among EMPs
who are doing crisis response work.
Given the role that individual differences play in posttraumatic
symptoms and compassion fatigue and satisfaction, it appears that
an individuals ethnic identity and cultural affiliation might buffer
or present a risk factor, following repeated exposures such as those
experienced by EMPs. Norris et al. (2002) reviewed 11 studies of
disaster survivors and found that individuals from ethnic minority
groups had poorer outcomes following exposure to disaster. In
addition to disaster survivors, adolescents are the focus of much of
the research on ethnic and racial identity and their association with
various psychological outcomes, with ethnic identity moderating
the relationship between PTSD and delinquency (Bruce, 2005) and
negatively associated with depression (Lee, 2005). Among adults,
both positive and no associations between ethnic identity and
psychological symptoms have been reported (Midlarsky & Midlarsky, 2004; Ozegovic, 2002), providing a very mixed picture of
strength and direction of previously explored relationships. The
research suggests that ethnic identity may have a relationship to
symptomology, but the results vary as there is little empirical data
and no data on EMPs as a professional group.
For the present study, we hypothesized a full model that contains personality (neuroticism and extraversion), context (trauma
exposure frequency), burnout, and compassion satisfaction, accounting for the most variance in predicting PTSD symptoms, with
positive directions for neuroticism, trauma exposure, and burnout;
and negative directions for extraversion and compassion satisfaction. Among participants high in neuroticism or burnout, the
association between trauma exposure frequency and PTSD symptoms will be strong and positive (Bissett, 2002; Hall & Wilson,

2005; Sirratt, 2001); for participants low in neuroticism or burnout,

this association will be weakly positive or nonexistent; for participants low in extraversion or compassion satisfaction, the association between trauma exposure frequency and PTSD symptoms
will be strong and positive (Conrad & Kellar-Guenther, 2006;
Fauerbach et al., 2000); for participants high in extraversion or
compassion satisfaction, this association will be weakly positive or
nonexistent. Additionally, an exploratory hypothesis tested
whether ethnic identity moderates the relationship between trauma
exposure frequency and PTSD symptoms in a model containing
neuroticism, extraversion, trauma exposure frequency, burnout,
and compassion satisfaction.

Method
Participants
Participants were recruited from four emergency management
associations through an e-mail announcement sent to member
listservs. The total sample included 175 men and 94 women with
a mean age of 46.04 (SD 10.72) years, 15.08 (SD 5.26) years
of education, and 13.06 (SD 9.66) years of emergency management experience. Approximately 64% of the participants were
married. Racially and ethnically the sample was homogeneous
with 236 participants identifying racially as White and 204 identifying ethnically as White, Caucasian, Anglo, or European American. The majority of the participants worked full time (n 248)
in government (n 173) or the private sector (n 71). The
samples composition was comparable to a study that explored
demographics among a sample of EMPs from the International
Association of Emergency Managers and North Dakota county
emergency managers (Cwiak, Cline, & Karlgaard, 2004).
Two hundred fifty-eight participants (90.8%) endorsed experiencing at least one disaster or emergency in their role as an
emergency management professional. The mean number of general disaster and trauma incidents experienced while working on
the job ranged from 0 250 with a mean of 14.69 (SD 32.21)
whereas the number of crime-related events experienced ranged
from 0 1000 with a mean of 11.01 (SD 82.63). Fifty-four of the
participants (19.6%) reported that they had been diagnosed,
treated, or both, for a psychological condition in the past 10 years.
Two hundred eighty-four individuals completed the full or partial survey. Twenty-six individuals responded that they had not
been exposed to a trauma or disaster on the job. Sixty-eight
participants responses had mostly missing data, 7 of whom indicated they had no work exposure. Therefore, 197 valid cases were
used for analysis purposes. The only difference between participants with complete and missing data was that the complete data
group endorsed a greater number of general disaster and trauma
events on the job compared to the incomplete data group,
t(116.12) 2.75, p .01. Response rates are not calculated
because it was impossible for the researchers to determine how
many members of the organizations surveyed actually received a
request to participate via e-mail.

Measures
NEO-Five Factor Inventory. We used the NEO Five-Factor
Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992) to measure partic-

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10

LAFAUCI SCHUTT AND MAROTTA

ipants neuroticism and extraversion traits. The NEO-FFI uses a

5-point 60-item Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree (0) to
strongly agree (4). The Cronbachs alpha for the neuroticism scale
was .89 and extraversion scale was .81, slightly higher than the test
manuals reliabilities of .86 (neuroticism) and .77 (extraversion).
Multigroup Ethnic Identity MeasureRevised. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity MeasureRevised (MEIM-R; Phinney,
1992; Phinney & Ong, 2007) was used to determine the strength of
participants ethnic identity. The MEIM-R is a 5-point 6-item
Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree), that measures ethnic identity across two factors, exploration and commitment, while also using an open-ended and checklist format to determine ethnic self-label. The internal consistency
of the MEIM-R for the current sample was .90, which was higher
than Phinney and Ongs (2007) reported reliability. The exploration subscale reliability was .91, and the commitment subscale
reliability was .87.
Trauma History Questionnaire. The Trauma History Questionnaire (THQ; Green, 1996) was used to assess the frequency of
lifetime trauma exposure. The THQ is a 24-item self-report measure that asks about respondents experiences with different types
of traumatic events in three main areas (crime-related events,
general disaster and trauma, unwanted physical and sexual experiences), using a dichotomous format while also assessing the
frequency of events that have been experienced and age when
respondent experienced each event endorsed (Norris & Hamblen,
2004). Because the scoring method is not standardized and can be
altered to meet the needs of the research, the type and total number
of exposure events were determined, and the number of events
experienced by participants were analyzed as a continuous variable. The mean number of total trauma events endorsed by 197
participants was 51.25 (SD 84.63), median of 19, and range of
0 452. One hundred thirty of the participants (66%) endorsed
experiencing a crime-related traumatic event with a mean frequency of 2.49 (SD 7.60), median of 1, and frequency range of
0 103 while 196 (99.5%) endorsed experiencing general disaster
and trauma events with a mean frequency of 47.57 (SD 83.19),
median of 15, and range of 0 452. Sexual and physical abuse and
other events questions were counted as 1 or 0 as the exact frequency of the events was difficult to determine given the varied
responses by participants (e.g., weekly, unknown). Physical and
sexual traumatic experiences were endorsed by 95 (48.2%) of the
participants. The frequency ranged from 0 5 (potential range 0 6)
with a mean of .93. The percentage of repeated exposure of sexual
traumatic events ranged from 3.6% 6.1%, whereas the percentage
of repeated exposure to physical traumatic events ranged from
6.6%14.2%. Sixty-seven (34.0%) participants also endorsed experiencing other traumatic events, repeated 17.3% of the time.
Professional Quality of Life Scale. The Professional Quality
of Life Scale R-IV (ProQoL; Stamm, 2005, 2008), a revised
version of the Compassion Fatigue Self-Test as originally developed by Figley (1995), was used to measure burnout and compassion satisfaction. Additionally, for descriptive purposes only, the
researchers assessed compassion fatigue levels. Participants were
instructed to rate each of the 30 scale items for frequency of
experience in the last 30 days using a 6-point scale ranging from
0 (never) to 5 (very often) (Stamm, 2005, 2008). The Cronbachs
alpha coefficients for the subscales were as follows: .91 for compassion satisfaction, .73 for burnout, and .79 for compassion

fatigue. These internal consistency levels were similar to levels

listed in the ProQoL manual (Stamm, 2005, 2008).
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ChecklistCivilian Version.
The PTSD ChecklistCivilian version (PCL-C; Weathers, Litz,
Huska, & Keane, 1994) was used to assess the presence and
severity of PTSD symptoms in the sample. The 17 items correspond with the symptoms of PTSD and are measured on a 5-point
Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely), assessing
how much the respondent is bothered by that problem in the past
month. PTSD symptoms were assessed as a continuous variable,
using a cut-off score of 44 for diagnosis, as this is a suggested
method used to meet diagnostic criteria in nonclinical populations
(Ruggiero, Del Ben, Scotti, & Rabalais, 2003). The Cronbachs
alphas were as follows: total scale .94, reexperiencing scale
.88, avoidance/numbing scale .87, and hyperarousal scale .87.
All of these reliabilities were similar to those of previous research
(Blanchard, Jones-Alexander, Buckley, & Forneris, 1996; Norris
& Hamblen, 2004).
Demographic Questionnaire. A brief questionnaire, including questions about age, gender, race, marital/partner status, years
of education and emergency management experience, frequency of
job-related trauma exposure, job title, job role, association and
organizational membership, and employment type and sector was
also administered. An inclusion criterion question inquired
whether the participant had been involved in at least one workrelated disaster or emergency.

Procedure
The researchers contacted seven emergency management organizations requesting permission to access their membership employee base for an Internet survey. Four organizations
agreed to participate. A contact person from each organization sent
out the requests for participation on their individual timelines. The
researchers remained in contact with each organization to assist in
this process and remind the contact person to send out reminders
4 weeks after the original request for participation and 6 weeks
prior to the data collection end date. Survey data were collected at
one point in time from May through October 2008.

Data Analyses
Prior to analyses, missing data on the NEO-FFI, MEIM-R,
ProQoL, and PCL-C (.3% of total responses) were imputed with
the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, a maximum likelihood estimator method (McLachlan, & Thriyambakam, 1997),
while missing data on the THQ was considered a no response.
After the assumptions of regression were checked, predictor variables were centered and hierarchical multiple regression analysis
was used to answer the research questions. For the hierarchical
regressions, the first step was entering the personality variables, as
estimates of baseline characteristics of the participants, followed
by trauma exposure, an environmental variable necessary for
PTSD development, and finally by burnout and compassion satisfaction, reactions that develop over time from work experience. In
testing moderation effects, a final step including the interaction
terms was added. For the exploratory hypothesis, the previously
described steps were repeated with the following additions: ethnic

POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

identity, a construct that usually forms in adolescence and young

adulthood following interaction with ones ethnic group, was entered into the model following the personality variables, and
another interaction term was added in the final step.

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Results
The mean neuroticism score and extraversion score were both
within the average ranges (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The MEIM-R
mean for participants who identified as White or European Americans was 3.17 (SD 0.86), whereas participants who identified
ethnically as not White or not from a European background had a
mean MEIM-R score of 3.60 (SD 0.83), a significant difference,
t(191) 2.60, p .01. The mean burnout score was lower than
the mean reported in the ProQoL manual (Stamm, 2005, 2008),
whereas both compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue
means were comparable to the manuals reported levels. Twentynine (14.7%) participants had compassion fatigue scores over 17,
indicating they were at risk for compassion fatigue (Stamm) while
26 participants (13.2%) met the cut-off score of 44 for a PTSD
diagnosis in a nonclinical population. This percentage is higher
than the lifetime PTSD prevalence rate of 6.8% reported in the
National Comorbidity Survey Replication (Kessler, Berglund,
Demler, Jin, & Walters, 2005) and 8% rate described in the
DSMIVTR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). However
the current samples rate is only slightly higher than published
prevalence ranges (8%12%; Norris & Slone, 2007) and within
PTSD rates reported in occupations working with traumatic material (e.g., Benedek, Fullerton, & Ursano, 2007; Perrin et al.,
2007). PTSD correlated significantly with neuroticism, extraversion, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in the expected directions and correlated positively with ethnic identity; all descriptive
data are presented in Table 1.
The results of the hierarchical regression supported hypothesis
one. Forty-one percent of the variance in PTSD symptoms was
explained by personality, frequency of trauma exposure, and repeated exposure symptomology. As expected, neuroticism and
burnout were individual positive predictors of PTSD. It is surprising that compassion satisfaction was an individual positive predictor of PTSD. Trauma exposure and extraversion were not significant predictors of PTSD. There was no support for the hypotheses
that the predictor variables moderate the relationship between
trauma exposure frequency and PTSD symptoms. However, ethnic
identity approached significance when added in Step 2 of the

11

exploratory model and when considered as an individual predictor

in the context of the full model. Tables 2 and 3 detail each step of
the models.
Exploratory analyses of demographic data found that single,
separated, divorced, and widowed individuals as a group had a
significantly higher amount of PTSD symptoms (M 31.52,
SD 13.05) than those participants married and living with a
partner (M 27.28, SD 11.12), t(195) 2.26, p .03.
Participants who reported being diagnosed or treated for a
psychological condition in the past 10 years also reported more
PTSD symptoms (M 35.15, SD 12.19) than those who had
not been diagnosed or treated (M 26.65, SD 11.06),
t(195) 4.28, p .00.

Discussion
The results suggest that the interplay of personality, exposure
frequency, and work-related reactions in the hypothesized model
are associated with PTSD symptom level when considered together, but individually the findings were varied. The significant
results concerning neuroticism supported the findings of previous
research reviews (Hall & Wilson, 2005; Moran & ShakespeareFinch, 2003) and individual studies with medical patients (Chung
et al., 2006), burn victims (Fauerbach et al., 2000), firefighters
(McFarlane, 1989), and Vietnam veterans (Hyer, Braswell, Albrecht, Boyd, Boudewyns, & Talbert, 2003). The lack of support
for extraversion as an individual predictor of PTSD is in contrast
to some studies (e.g., Fauerbach et al., 2000), but considering
extraversion has shown less definite support in research (e.g.,
Chung et al., 2006) and EMPs had not yet been studied, this
finding is not totally unexpected. Perhaps the administrative or
bureaucratic aspects of the EMPs work role contrasts to the human
helping role of professions where extraversion is more likely to be
valued. Alternatively, given the high exposure rates in this sample,
perhaps these participants were coping by distancing themselves
from others, temporarily lowering any natural tendency toward
extraversion.
Trauma exposure frequency accounted for additional significant
variance in PTSD symptoms in the context of the first model when
entered following personality variables, but the amount of variance
explained was low and this factor was not individually significant.
A review of predictors of PTSD symptoms in police officers noted
similar results. Pole (2008) found that for police officers with a
mean cumulative work exposure of 250 critical incidents over the

Table 1
Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Correlation Coefficients Between Predictor Variables and
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Variable
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

PTSD
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Ethnic Identity
Trauma Exposure
Burnout
Compassion Satisfaction

p .05.

p .01.

M (SD)

.55

.32
.47

.15
.12
.17

.02
.18
.15
.12

.56
.56
.53
.04
.03

.19
.39
.63
.16
.08
.53

28.42 (11.79)
17.12 (8.68)
30.33 (6.32)
3.23 (0.88)
51.25 (84.63)
15.50 (6.75)
39.20 (7.58)

LAFAUCI SCHUTT AND MAROTTA

12

Table 2
Hierarchical Regression Analysis Showing Variance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
Accounted for by the Predictor Variables and Interaction Terms
Step

R2

Adjusted R2

R2

F change

df1

df2

1
2
3
4

.56
.57
.65
.66

.31
.33
.42
.44

.30
.32
.41
.41

.31
.02
.10
.01

43.42
4.72
16.39
0.99

2
1
2
4

194
193
191
187

.00
.03
.00
.41

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Note. Step 1: neuroticism and extraversion; Step 2: trauma exposure frequency; Step 3: burnout and compassion satisfaction; Step 4: interaction terms.

sionals engage in their work involving emergency events, the more

likely they are to experience compassion satisfaction but at an
increased risk for PTSD symptoms. Prospective studies of EMPs at
various stages of their career might help to understand the longitudinal development of compassion satisfaction.
Not one of the hypothesized moderators between trauma exposure frequency and PTSD symptoms was significant. This could be
due to exposure desensitization, inaccurate reporting, or measurement error. Given the potential for difficulty recalling events
across a career, a more systematic measurement method such as
weekly tracking of work-related trauma exposure incidents or
identification of the specific number of events in which the participant felt fear, helplessness, or horror, could help determine the
role that trauma exposure may play in relation to PTSD symptoms
for EMPs.
Ethnic identity did not have a main or moderating effect with
trauma exposure frequency, but showed a positive significant
correlation with PTSD and approached significance when added in
Step 2 of the model and when considered as an individual predictor
in the context of the full model. In interpreting the results, it is
important to note that the majority of the sample identified ethnically as White or European American with a mean ethnic identity
strength significantly less than the individuals who identified ethnically as other than White or of European ancestry. Given Phinneys (1996) view that when considering ethnic identity as a
potential factor in psychological outcomes the researcher makes

course of their careers, trauma exposure frequency was a poor

predictor of PTSD. However, the research also reported that a
history of childhood trauma was related to more posttraumatic
stress symptoms when viewed in terms of the worst work-related
traumatic event. Separating out the effects of personal history of
trauma and incidents of work-related traumatic exposure on PTSD
symptoms or examining the effects of personal history of trauma
as a mediator could clarify the results in future research.
There are various likely explanations for this studys findings.
Perhaps the severity, the amount of direct exposure during an
incident, or the time spent at the disaster site may be more
important than the actual number of events experienced. Alternatively, once individuals meet a certain threshold for exposure
events, as incidents increase, additional events make less of an
impact or future events make differential impacts, depending on
individuals baseline symptoms or other personal factors.
This study was the first to determine whether repeated exposure
symptoms contributed to the variance in PTSD symptoms in a
multifaceted model. Support was found for the idea that burnout is
positively related to PTSD symptoms for individuals from first
responding occupations (Bissett, 2002; Sirratt, 2001). Compassion
satisfaction was negatively correlated with PTSD, but it served as
a positive predictor of PTSD symptoms in the full model. The data
show relatively more compassion satisfaction than burnout in the
sample and also suggest EMPs can exhibit coexisting compassion
satisfaction and PTSD symptomology. Possibly, the more profes-

Table 3
Hierarchical Regression Results for Three Models Predicting Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
Model 1
Variable

SE B

Constant
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Trauma Exposure
Burnout
Compassion Satisfaction
Neuroticism Trauma Exposure
Extraversion Trauma Exposure
Burnout Trauma Exposure
Compassion Satisfaction Trauma Exposure
Ethnic Identity
Ethnic Identity Trauma Exposure

1.78
0.52
0.10
0.01
0.73
0.32

5.96
0.10
0.14
0.01
0.13
0.12

Note. Predictor variables are centered for Models 2 and 3.

p .10. p .05. p .01. p .001.

Model 2

.38
.06
.07
.42
.21

Model 3

SE B

SE B

28.09
0.52
0.08
0.00
0.75
0.33
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

.70
.10
.14
.01
.13
.12
.00
.00
.00
.00

.39
.05
.00
.43
.21
.11
.02
.14
.03

28.14
0.52
0.15
0.00
0.70
0.31
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.31
0.01

0.70
0.10
0.15
0.01
0.14
0.12
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.80
0.01

.38
.08
.03
.40
.20
.07
.01
.12
.05
.10
.10

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POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

the assumption that ethnicity is a meaningful psychological variable to the extent that it has salience to the individual involved (p.
922), it is probable that in the current study ethnic identity may not
have been personally significant to all of the participants, a potential problem because the EMP role requires work among diverse
groups on a regular basis. Perhaps the working environment of
EMPs is not yet diverse enough to warrant the kind of selfreflection that would increase salience to these participants or
other cultural identity factors may be more significant for this
population.
It is possible that ethnic identity may affect symptoms in alternate ways such as serving as a mediator between personality traits
and posttraumatic stress. A mediation role for ethnic identity or
contextual factors was not hypothesized or tested in these models.
Research has found support for exposure as a mediator between
ethnicity and PTSD symptoms in minority groups (Perilla, Norris,
& Lavizzo, 2002), which are more likely to have a stronger ethnic
identity.
Limitations of this research include its use of a nonrandom fairly
homogeneous volunteer sample and cross-sectional design. Given
the Internet survey nature of the research, it was also impossible
for the researcher to determine the response rate and if there were
any differences between individuals who responded to the request
for participation and individuals who did not respond. Because the
study used self-report measures that were unable to be counterbalanced, social desirability, inability to observe clinical symptoms,
and measure order bias may have influenced the findings. There
was some content similarity between items on the PCL-C and
items that measure neuroticism on the NEO-FFI and burnout on
the ProQoL because of common negative affect or anxiety-based
components in these constructs. Additional ways of capturing
these factors such as latent variable systems or clinical interviews
should be considered in future research. The difficulty in measuring trauma exposure frequency precisely in a highly exposed
population also may have affected the results as the participants
answered the THQ open-ended frequency of repeated events questions in such varied ways that they could not be systematically
calculated. Personal and work-related events were also assessed
simultaneously as total lifetime exposure making it difficult to
determine whether there are differences between events experienced in varying contexts.
Taking into consideration the various roles, responsibilities, and
backgrounds of individuals within the emergency management
profession, collecting data on participants primary professional
identity and if applicable, career prior to emergency management,
or qualitatively studying individuals motivations for career or
position changes could provide further evidence of how personal
qualities or work environments may be related to posttraumatic
stress or repeated exposure symptoms. In addition to individual
qualities, aspects of the environmental context might be examined
since anecdotally, disaster sites are chaotic by their very nature and
might be assumed to exert some press for risk-taking and adventurous behaviors. Finally, studies could explore alternative
pathways in which the variables used in this study may contribute
to level of PTSD symptoms. Given EMPs multiple roles before,
during, and after traumatic events and contact with numerous
systems, additional research with this population is essential. Further study will not only provide knowledge to improve EMPs

13

personal outcomes, following traumatic exposure, but to the individuals and groups they assist as well.

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Received December 2, 2009

Revision received December 2, 2009
Accepted June 4, 2010

Correction to Cuevas, Sabina, and Picard (2010)

In the article Interpersonal Victimization Patterns and Psychopathology Among Latino Women:
Results From the SALAS Study by Carlos A. Cuevas, Chiara Sabina, and Emilie H. Picard
(Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Advance online publication,
September 20, 2010. doi:10.1037/a0020099), there were citation errors in the last sentence of the
first column of text on page 9, and a reference was omitted from the reference list. The sentence
should have read:
This result is consistent with other work that has found support for the anxious and dissociative
reaction associated with trauma among Latinos and how it may relate to ataque de nervios
(Hinton, Chong, Pollack, Barlow, & McNally, 2008; Lewis-Fernandez et al., 2002; Schechter et al.,
2000; Tolin, Robinson, Gaztambide, Horowitz, & Blank, 2007).
The incorrect reference was:
Baer, J. S., Kivlahan, D. R., & Donovan, D. M. (1999). Integrating skills training and motivational
therapies: Implications for the treatment of substance dependence. Journal of Substance Abuse
Treatment, 17, 1523.
The correct reference is:
Tolin, D. F., Robinson, J. T., Gaztambide, S., Horowitz, S., & Blank, K. (2007). Ataques de nervios
and psychiatric disorders in older Puerto Rican primary care patients. Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 38, 659 669.
DOI: 10.1037/a0022394

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