The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation in the Relationship Between Defense Styles and Psychological Vulnerability Among Emergency Medicine Physicians

 Excessive work-related psychological pressures can endanger health by causing physical, mental, and behavioral complications.

 The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between defense styles and psychological vulnerability among emergency medicine physicians.

 The statistical population of this descriptive correlational study comprised all emergency medicine physicians working in Tehran hospitals in 2021 - 2022, from whom a sample of 380 was selected using cluster sampling. The research instruments included the symptom checklist-25 (SCL-25), The Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM) in LISREL 8.8.

 Based on the results, the research model had a good fit (CFI = 0.96, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.058). There was an indirect relationship between the defense styles of emergency medicine physicians and psychological vulnerability, mediated by emotion regulation (P < 0.001). There were direct relationships between defense styles and psychological vulnerability, between emotion regulation and psychological vulnerability, and between defense styles and emotion regulation (P < 0.001).

 Health professionals and therapists can thus reduce psychological vulnerability among emergency medicine physicians by improving their immature and neurotic defense styles and enhancing their cognitive emotion regulation.