Trauma, protection, and distress in late adolescence: a multi-determinant approach.
This empirical study investigated the multivariable relationship between psychological distress and the combination of a set of four trauma events (victim of violence, witness of violence, victim of accidents, and interpersonal loss) and a set of four protective factors (emotional social support, sense of personal efficacy, easygoing temperament, and gender) among a sample of 1,066 graduating high school seniors in a large urban community. Each of the eight independent variables had a statistically significant zero-order correlation with psychological distress. The set of eight variables (four trauma and four protective) had a multiple correlation of R = .61 with psychological distress accounting for 38% of the variance (considered a very large effect size by Cohen (1988)). The protective factors had a larger effect on psychological distress than did the trauma variables. The study demonstrates the desirability of using a multi-determinant approach rather than a single-determinant approach in the study of psychological distress.
Rosenthal
Beth Spenciner
BS
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York 11451, USA. rosenthal@york.cuny.edu
Wilson
W Cody
WC
Futch
Valerie A
VA
D000059:Accidents / Q000523:psychology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001601:Bereavement; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013694:Temperament; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology