Evaluation of Stress Experienced by Yellowstone Army Fire Fighters
Abstract
An evaluation of the stress experienced by the soldiers who fought fires at Yellowstone National Park was conducted in September 1988. The psychological measures used to evaluate stress illustrated a discriminant sensitivity to variations in stress levels in this field situation and to naturally and experimentally induced stress. Compared to results obtained from other protocols involving surgical stress, examination stress, and competitive weapon firing, the soldiers fighting the Yellowstone fires experienced a stress level on the high end of the moderate range. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed on the data to look at possible differences in stress perception according to rank and number of days spent actually fighting the fires. Significant differences were found in the stress experienced between soldiers of different ranks, indicating that the junior enlisted soldiers reported the highest stress ratings. No significant differences resulted from actual fire-fighting experience. Keywords: Stress evaluation, Fire fighting, Stress perception, Stress management, Yellowstone, Military rank, Soldiers, Multiple affect adjective check list - revised, Specific rating of events scale, Coping, Disease and nonbattle injury rates, Field exercises, Life threat.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA226368
Entities
People
- Gerald A. Hudgens
- James M. King
- Linda T. Fatkin
Organizations
- Human Engineering Laboratory