RESUMEN
Despite the importance of family context to adolescents' reactions following disaster, little research has examined the role of parents' functioning on adolescents' disaster-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Using data from 288 adolescents (ages 12 to 19 years) and 288 parents exposed to a series of severe tornadoes in a rural Midwestern community, this study tested a conceptual model of the interrelationships between individual and parental risk factors on adolescents' disaster-related PTSD symptoms using structural equation modeling. Results showed that the psychological process of experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between family disaster exposure and PTSD for both adolescents and their parents. Parents' PTSD symptoms independently predicted adolescents' PTSD symptoms. Further, parents' postdisaster functioning amplified the effects of adolescent experiential avoidance on adolescents' disaster-related PTSD symptoms. Findings highlight the importance of family context in understanding adolescents' postdisaster reactions. Clinical implications are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Desastres , Control Interno-Externo , Padres/psicología , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/psicología , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Estudios Transversales , Análisis Factorial , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Minnesota , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica , Psicología del Adolescente , Factores de Riesgo , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Tornados , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
This study investigated the influence of exposure to a tornado disaster and disaster-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology on physical health complaints and primary health care utilization among rural medical patients. One-hundred five patients completed self-report measures assessing disaster exposure, PTSD symptoms, and self-reported physical health complaints. Objective rates of health care utilization were gathered by a review of medical records. Tornado disaster exposure and generalized psychological distress were associated with physical health complaints one year following the disaster. After controlling for age, gender, and levels of predisaster health care utilization, PTSD Cluster C (avoidance) symptoms were associated with increased rates of postdisaster health care utilization. Implications of these findings for interventions within the medical system are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Desastres , Estado de Salud , Servicios de Salud Rural/estadística & datos numéricos , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/epidemiología , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Minnesota/epidemiología , Atención Primaria de Salud/estadística & datos numéricos , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Índice de Severidad de la Enfermedad , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/diagnóstico , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/psicologíaRESUMEN
Empirical research has demonstrated the existence of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders. Paradigms commonly used to assess attentional biases have failed to demonstrate consistent findings as well as reveal the specific features of attentional biases. The current study investigated the utility of the rapid serial visual presentation paradigm in assessing attentional biases among 40 undergraduate students with high spider phobia (SP) symptoms and 40 undergraduate students with low SP symptoms. Results revealed that across participants, threatening information was processed in a facilitated and automatic manner and resulted in an immediate (i.e., within 120 ms) attentional capture. Following immediate attentional capture, however, only high SP participants exhibited an attentional alertness towards subsequent stimuli following threat presentation. These results extend traditional attentional bias literature, and theoretical implications are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Procesos Mentales/fisiología , Trastornos Fóbicos/psicología , Estimulación Luminosa , Adulto , Animales , Atención/fisiología , Parpadeo Atencional/fisiología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Recuerdo Mental , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Lectura , ArañasRESUMEN
The effects of specific emotional states on a laboratory pain task were tested by examining the behavioural, verbal and psychophysiological responses of 80 student volunteers (50% female). Participants were assigned to one of four Velten-style emotion-induction conditions (ie, anxiety, depression, elation or neutral). The sexes of experimenters were counterbalanced. Overt escape behaviour (ie, pain tolerance), pain threshold and severity ratings, verbal reports of emotion and physiological measures (ie, electrocardiogram, corrugator and trapezium electromyogram) were recorded. A pressure pain task was given before and after the emotion induction. As predicted, those who participated in the anxiety or depression condition showed reduced pain tolerance after induction of these negative emotions; pain severity ratings became most pronounced in the depression condition. Emotion induction did not have a discernable effect on pain tolerance or severity ratings in the elation condition. A pattern of participant and experimenter sex effects, as well as trials effects, was seen in the physiological data. The influence of negative affective states (ie, anxiety and depression) on acute pain are discussed along with the unique contributions of behavioural, verbal and physiological response systems in understanding the interactions of pain and emotions.