Death anxiety and spiritual intelligence as predictors of dissociative posttraumatic stress disorder in Greek first responders: A moderation model.

Abstract

This cross-sectional study sought to examine spiritual intelligence (SI) as a moderator between death anxiety (DA) and dissociative posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD-DISS) among 1st responders. A convenience sample of 182 1st responders (aid workers and firefighters) was recruited from the regional directorates of Western Greece. Participants provided sociodemographic details and were assessed on SI-, DA-, and PTSD-DISS-related symptomatology. We hypothesized that DA would successfully predict prodromal PTSD-DISS, with SI inversely moderating the relationship between the aforementioned constructs, such that an increase in SI would correspond to a decrease in PTSD-DISS. The overall model confirmed that DA, SI, and their linear combination significantly explained 77% of PTSD-DISS variance. Furthermore, SI significantly moderated the relationship between DA and PTSD-DISS, though in the opposite direction than expected: At low SI values the association between DA and PTSD-DISS was nonexistent (t =.45, p =.07), whereas DA had an incremental effect on PTSD-DISS analogous to increasing SI values (average SI: t =.2, p =.05; high SI: t = 2.54, p =.01). The results indicate diverse trajectories of spiritual (death anxiety−related) experiences and SI in mental health outcomes. Conceptual considerations and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) © 2019 American Psychological Associatio