title: Social relations and PTSD symptoms: a prospective study on earthquake-impacted adolescents in Taiwan.
abstract: This prospective longitudinal study examined two competing models, a traditional social support model and a supportive and detrimental social relations model, to clarify the association of PTSD symptoms with supportive and detrimental social relations. Seven-hundred five adolescents living near the epicenter of the Taiwan Chi-Chi Earthquake participated in the study. The models were evaluated and cross-validated using structural equation modeling. The supportive and detrimental social relations model appeared to be a better fit. After further evaluation of three nested versions of the supportive and detrimental social relations model, detrimental social relations was found to partially mediate the relationship between PTSD symptoms 1 and 2 years following the earthquake. The findings suggest that helping adolescents deal with detrimental social relations can contribute to postdisaster adjustment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Hsun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Sue-Huei
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li-Jen
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Yin-Chang
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012963:Sociometric Techniques; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology