Effects of Flight Attendants' Mental Health Resulting From Emotion Regulation Among Coworkers on Flight Safety Attitudes: Moderating Effects of Behavioral Activation Systems

We developed a causal conceptual framework from a social-psychological perspective to investigate whether cabin crews' mental health affects flight safety attitudes via emotion regulation toward coworkers. In addition, the moderating effect of behavioral activation systems (BAS) in linking emotion regulation to mental health is examined. Data were collected through a quantitative survey administered both online and face to face at major airports in Korea over 2 months (January–March 2025). A total of 249 valid responses from airline cabin crews were analyzed using SPSS 21 and AMOS 20. The results reveal that deep acting and relation-involved ambivalence positively influence mental health, whereas self-defensive ambivalence and surface acting negatively affect it. Mental health is also found to enhance flight safety attitudes, and the moderating effects of BAS are supported, except for SDA. This study demonstrates that flight safety attitudes are shaped by social psychological factors and also offers managerial implications.