LAUSR

Firefighters with high risk of depressive symptoms need more frequent mental screening and counseling. Regular psychological service ought to be arranged in order to relive involuntary responsibility and over-commitment. In addition, it’s urgent to improve skills of coping strategies facing work-related stress among firefighters at the individual level. Objectives This study aims to examine the association between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and depressive symptoms among Chinese firefighters and the moderating role of positive and negative coping styles in the above association. Methods A cross-sectional study including 1328 male firefighters was conducted in China. We adopted the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to measure depressive symptoms. Results Results showed that ERI was associated with depressive symptoms. Individuals with a higher ERI ratio and greater overcommitment were likely to have higher level of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, negative coping style strengthened the relationship between ERI ratio and overcommitment with depressive symptoms, whereas the positive coping style presented none significant moderation. Conclusions These findings indicate that reforming the effort-reward system might be helpful for mental health promotion among Chinese firefighters.