Relationship Between Characteristics of Trauma Exposure and Symptom Severity​

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Tae Gyu Kang

Abstract or Description

When confronted with a traumatic event, different individuals experience different degrees of posttraumatic stress symptoms. We hypothesize that these differences can be partially explained by characteristics of the traumatic event(s), such as the number of traumatic events the person was exposed to, the type of traumatic event (i.e., accident, direct exposure, indirect/bystander exposure, and environmental change), and the age at which they were exposed to the traumatic event (i.e., child, adolescent, or adult). In this study, we recruited an online sample of trauma-exposed adults (n=452) to answer questions about their traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms (using the Trauma History Screen, Life Events Checklist, and PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5).  Linear regression models were used to test our hypotheses. The number of traumas a participant had been exposed to was significantly related to their PTSD symptom severity (β=0.43, p<.001). The type of traumatic event a participant had been exposed to was also significantly related to their PTSD symptom severity (F=8.94, p<.001). Indirect/bystander trauma was related to significantly lower PTSD symptoms severity than direct physical trauma (Δ=–7.58, p=.003) and then environmental change trauma (Δ=–10.40, p<.001). Environmental change trauma was related to significantly higher PTSD symptom severity than accident trauma (Δ=8.59, p=.024). Contrary to our hypothesis, participants’ age at trauma exposure was not significantly related to their PTSD symptom severity (F=0.40, p=.670). This study provides insight into which characteristics of trauma exposure are reliably related to PTSD symptoms. Further work using this dataset will explore characteristics of the participants as well.  

Mentor

Jeffrey Girard