Death Anxiety and Spiritual Intelligence as Predictors of Dissociative Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Greek First Responders: A Moderation Model

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.