Negative Mood, Anger and Alcohol Use in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Drinking Motives

Firefighters represent an understudied population with higher rates of negative mood, anger and drinking, with rates as high as one third engaging in problematic alcohol use. Negative mood and anger have been linked to different motives for using alcohol (social, enhancement, coping and conformity) and have been shown to predict problematic alcohol use outcomes. Although this is a population more vulnerable to greater AUD, minimal research has been conducted on the predictors or motivators of problematic alcohol use in firefighters. The present study sought to examine the moderating role of drinking motives in the relationship between negative mood, anger and alcohol use severity as well as anger’s unique contribution to alcohol use in firefighters. Firefighters at a large urban fire department (N = 679) completed an online questionnaire about their health and stress behaviors. Linear regression examined the relationship between negative mood, anger, and alcohol use as well as the moderational role of drinking motives between negative mood symptoms and alcohol use. Results showed that both negative mood and anger positive predicted alcohol use severity and these relationships were moderated by social and enhancement drinking motives. Further, anger was identified as a unique contributor to alcohol use severity above and beyond negative mood. These results suggest that anger contributes uniquely to alcohol use severity and may represent a different population of alcohol-drinking firefighters that may benefit from anger intervention in alcohol use disorder treatment.