Do measures of post-trauma factors better explain PTSD severity than pre-trauma factors? An empirical reply to Ogle et al.
van der Velden,Peter van der Knaap,Leontien
van der Velden,Peter
van der Knaap,Leontien
Abstract
Ogle, Rubin and Siegler (2016) concluded that post-event risk factors account for PTSD-symptomatology much better than pre-trauma factors. However, in their study several post-event predictors such as involuntary recall and physical reactions to trauma memory, were related to and assessed simultaneously with PTSD-symptomatology. Removing content-related items from the PTSD measure would, according to the authors, ensure that results were not being driven by potential content overlap. In the present prospective study (n=887) we test their assumption that removing such items prevents that results are overlap-driven. Correlational and multiple regression analyses showed that the associations between pre-event mental health and neuroticism on the one side, and PTSD-symptomatology on the other, were equal regardless if and which symptom cluster of PTSD was removed from our PTSD measure. Based on these findings we conclude that Ogle et al.’s assumption need to be rejected.
Description
Date
2016
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Publisher
Research Projects
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Keywords
PTSD, trauma, risk factors, mental health, neuroticism
Citation
van der Velden, P & van der Knaap, L 2016, 'Do measures of post-trauma factors better explain PTSD severity than pre-trauma factors? An empirical reply to Ogle et al.', Clinical Psychological Science, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 141-145. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1177/2167702616654906