Émotions et régulation émotionnelle des adolescents suite à l’incendie du site industriel Lubrizol (26 septembre 2019) : analyse rétrospective

Abstract

ObjectivesOur objective was to retrospectively examine the emotions experienced and the emotional regulation of adolescents, from 11 to 18 years old, immediately after the Lubrizol industrial fire, then nine months later. Material and methodA self-administered online questionnaire was completed by a sample of 178 participants exposed (or not) to the smoke cloud or resided at least 3km area from the fire. An open-ended questionnaire asked participants to write down their feelings after the Lubrizol fire. The emotional intensity assessment was first referred to the three days following the fire, then nine months after the fire. The emotional regulation strategies were examined by checking yes/no for nine proposals and the adolescents answered several questions about their protective behaviors. ResultsThe emotional lexicon was related to fear or worry (40%), anger or aggressiveness (26%), sadness (21%) and stress relief (6%). Such lexicon was not altered by the location of the participants (exposed under the cloud of smoke or living in an area near from the fire). The self-evaluation of emotions after the fire revealed that 50% of the participants reported being highly anxious (fear, worry) and 33% experienced animosity (aggressiveness, anger). The high anxiety scores were significantly more often observed in adolescents living under the cloud (Chi2=4,5, df 1, P<.03) than when in its proximity (<3km) to the fire (Chi2=0.25, df 1, P>.6). The attenuation of emotions nine months later is notable in those who were under the cloud (Chi2=24.08, df 4, P<.001). In the three days following the fire, fewer than 20% of participants said they took the time to think before engaging in a task (intrapersonal emotional regulation), while 45% asked questions to better understand what worried them. Forty-nine percent of the participants shared their experience using virtual electronical messages and 80% of them used real physical interpersonal communication (interpersonal emotional regulation). ConclusionThe fire produced an emotional shock associated with anxiety and animosity. The adolescents more easily adopted interpersonal emotional regulation strategies independent of whether they had been exposed under the cloud of smoke or whether they lived in an area near or far from the fire. A more marked emotional attenuation was observed nine months later in the participants exposed to the cloud.