Can Firefighters' Mental Health Be Predicted by Emotional Intelligence and Proactive Coping?

The present study explores emotional intelligence and proactive coping as possible protective factors for both a group of paid-professional firefighters (n=94) and a group of similar comparison participants (n=91). Each respondent completed the Impact of Events Scale-Revised, Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and Proactive Coping Scale. Using an exploratory/liberal Type 1 error rate (alpha <=.10), our results suggested that for firefighters emotional intelligence negatively predicted self-reported traumatic stress (beta=-.198), while proactive coping negatively predicted several other mental health symptoms (obsessive-compulsive beta=-.192, depression beta=-.220, anxiety beta=-.295). For the comparison participants, the pattern of results was substantially different from the firefighters in that emotional intelligence negatively predicted several mental health symptoms (interpersonal sensitivity beta=-.465, depression beta=-.239, anxiety beta=-.269, hostility beta=-.349) and proactive coping only predicted a lack of psychoticism (beta=-.216).