title: Relations between PTSD and distress dimensions in an Indian child/adolescent sample following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.
abstract: Posttraumatic stress disorder's (PTSD) four-factor dysphoria model has substantial empirical support (reviewed in Elhai & Palmieri, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 849-854, 2011; Yufik & Simms, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 764-776, 2010). However, debatable is whether the model's dysphoria factor adequately captures all of PTSD's emotional distress (e.g., Marshall et al., Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(1), 126-135, 2010), which is relevant to understanding the assessment and psychopathology of PTSD. Thus, the present study assessed the factor-level relationship between PTSD and emotional distress in 818 children/adolescents attending school in the vicinity of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. The effective sample had a mean age of 12.85 years (SD = 1.33), with the majority being male (n = 435, 53.8 %). PTSD and emotional distress were measured by the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index (PTSD-RI) and Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) respectively. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) assessed the PTSD and BSI-18 model fit; Wald tests assessed hypothesized PTSD-distress latent-level relations; and invariance testing examined PTSD-distress parameter differences using age, gender and direct exposure as moderators. There were no moderating effects for the PTSD-distress structural parameters. BSI-18's depression and somatization factors related more to PTSD's dysphoria than PTSD's avoidance factor. The results emphasize assessing for specificity and distress variance of PTSD factors on a continuum, rather than assuming dysphoria factor's complete accountability for PTSD's inherent distress. Additionally, PTSD's dysphoria factor related more to BSI-18's depression than BSI-18's anxiety/somatization factors; this may explain PTSD's comorbidity mechanism with depressive disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA, atscon60@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ateka A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Contractor
authors.forename: Panna
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Mojisola F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Tiamiyu
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Hovey
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Geers
authors.forename: Ruby
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Charak
authors.forename: Marijo B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Tamburrino
authors.forename: Jon D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Elhai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D023481:Terrorism