{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,3]],"date-time":"2025-12-03T18:13:50Z","timestamp":1764785630643,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,9]],"date-time":"2025-05-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1746748800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["EJIHPE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objective: The present investigation sought to examine the interrelationships between early-life adverse experiences, dissociative symptoms, suicidal ideation, and depressive manifestations among metropolitan firefighters screened with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and to elucidate the potential mediating effects of these psychological variables on both the presence and severity of PTSD symptomatology in this high-risk occupational cohort. Methods: A cross-sectional investigation was performed to assess psychological conditions among 760 metropolitan male firefighters, employing conditional process analysis with multiple mediation modeling (PROCESS macro Model 6). The investigative protocol employed validated psychometric instruments including the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5); the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-33); the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES); the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire (SBQ-4); and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Bootstrap resampling (n = 5000) generated bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals, enabling interrogation of complex trauma response mechanisms. Results: Conditional process analysis demonstrated that childhood trauma functions as a significant mediator (indirect effect = 0.142, 95% CI [0.086, 0.198]), with emotional abuse pathways revealing significant mediational effects (\u03b2 = 0.285, p &lt; 0.001). Stratifying participants using a PCL-5 \u2265 33 threshold (non-PTSD: n = 543, 71.5%, median PCL-5: 22; PTSD: n = 217, 28.5%, median PCL-5: 39), the investigation elucidated serial mediation mechanisms, particularly through childhood trauma to dissociative experiences (serial indirect effect = 0.168, 95% CI [0.092, 0.244]), collectively explaining nearly half of PTSD variance through complex psychological interaction pathways. Conclusions: Conditional process analysis revealed childhood trauma as a pivotal mediator, with emotional abuse pathways demonstrating significant mediational effects, while dissociative experiences emerged as a significant secondary mechanism, collectively explaining a substantial portion of PTSD variance through interactions between occupational trauma exposure and intrinsic psychological vulnerabilities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ejihpe15050075","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,9]],"date-time":"2025-05-09T04:13:44Z","timestamp":1746764024000},"page":"75","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Cross-Sectional Analysis of Psychological Mediators Between Occupational Trauma and PTSD in Metropolitan Firefighters"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7856-8769","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmet Erhan","family":"Bakirci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Defense and Firefighting, Vocational School of Technical Science, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, 34320 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5392-9644","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vedat","family":"Sar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Koc University, 34450 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"Cetin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Health Sciences Hamidiye, 34668 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alshahrani, K. 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