Term of Award

Spring 2021

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Bridget Melton

Committee Member 1

Greg Ryan

Committee Member 2

Jeff Klibert

Abstract

Firefighters are continuously interacting within high-stress and high physical demanding tasks. Minimal research investigates the influence of emotion regulation on health status among firefighters. PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between emotion regulation constructs and health status fitness metrics in a sample of career firefighters from southeast Georgia. METHODS: Forty-four career firefighters from southeast rural Georgia participated in a yearly fitness assessment. Body composition and fitness variables were collected. Emotion regulation was examined using the 36-item Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Survey. Inferential analysis including a Kruskal Wallis test was used to reveal differences between variables in health status (i.e., Perceived Health, Body Fat, Waist-Hip, and VO2max). Bonferroni Post hoc pairwise comparisons were used on all significant findings. RESULTS: Significant mean differences were found in DERS total scores and Perceived Health (X2(2) = 6.51, p = .04) No significant difference in DERS total score and body fat (χ2(4) = 6.29, p = .18) and DERS total score and waist:hip (Χ2(3) = .75, p =.87). No significant difference in DERS total scores and Estimated VO2max (Χ2(2) = 4.23, p = .12). However, when broken down into DERS subgroups, Goals (p = .02) and Awareness (p = .01) showed a significant difference among the Estimated vO2max groups CONCLUSION: Firefighters within from this region showed similar relationships between DERS total score, DERS subgroups and health status fitness metrics to individuals from previous studies. Given the preliminary nature of the study, this allows for new literature within a multitude of fields.

INDEX WORDS: Impact, Suppression, Reappraisal, Well-being

OCLC Number

1382663380

Research Data and Supplementary Material

Yes

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