title: Seeing the silver lining: potential benefits of trauma exposure in college students.
abstract: In the current study we compare college students exposed to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) meeting self-report criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), PTE-exposed students not meeting criteria for PTSD, and non-exposed students on measures of perceived social support, self-esteem, and optimism (i.e., personal resources) and report use of specific coping strategies. Results indicate that the PTE-exposed/probable PTSD group reported fewer personal resources, greater use of avoidance-focused coping, and less use of approach-focused coping than the other two groups. The PTE-exposed/no PTSD group reported greater perceived social support and less use of avoidance-focused coping than the non-exposed group. We discuss the findings' implications for the prevention and treatment of trauma-related psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, 108 Wolf Hall, East Delaware Avenue, Newark, DE 19716, USA. dgrasso@psych.udel.edu
authors.forename: Damion J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.forename: Lawrence H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Jason S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hajcak
authors.forename: Edna B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Foa
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Simons
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult