@article{ref1,
title="Social integration buffers stress in New York police after the 9/11 terrorist attack",
journal="Anxiety, stress, and coping",
year="2014",
author="Schwarzer, Ralf and Bowler, Rosemarie M. and Cone, James E.",
volume="27",
number="1",
pages="18-26",
abstract="Abstract Being socially integrated is regarded as a protective factor enabling people to cope with adversity. The stress-buffering effect reflects an interaction between stress and a social coping resource factor on subsequent outcomes. This study, based on 2943 police officers, examines mental health outcomes among officers who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The Wave 1 data collection took place between September 2003 and November 2004 with a follow-up study (Wave 2) conducted from November 2006 through December 2007. A moderated mediation model was specified that uses event exposure as a distal predictor, earlier stress response as a mediator, and later stress response as an outcome, and social integration as a moderator of this relationship. The mediation hypothesis was confirmed, and moderation occurred at two stages. First, there was a multiplicative relationship between exposure levels and social integration: The higher the exposure level, the more stress responses occur, but this effect was buffered by a high level of social integration. Second, Wave 1 stress interacted with social integration on Wave 2 stress: The more the police officers were socially integrated, the lower the Wave 2 stress, which happened in a synergistic manner. The findings contribute to the understanding of mediating and moderating mechanisms that result in health outcomes such as posttraumatic stress disorder or resilience.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1061-5806",
doi="10.1080/10615806.2013.806652",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2013.806652"
}