title: Mechanisms of psychological distress following war in the former Yugoslavia: the role of interpersonal sensitivity.
abstract: While high prevalence rates of psychological symptoms have been documented in civilian survivors of war, little is known about the mechanisms by which trauma exposure might lead to poor psychological outcomes in these populations. One potential mechanism that may underpin the association between war-related traumatic experiences and psychopathology is interpersonal sensitivity. In the current study, we applied structural equation modeling to investigate the impact of interpersonal sensitivity on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression symptoms, and anger responses following exposure to war trauma. 3313 survivors of the war in the former Yugoslavia were identified and selected using a multistage, probabilistic sampling frame and random walk technique. Participants were interviewed regarding trauma exposure, interpersonal sensitivity, and PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, and anger responses. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the relationship between trauma and PTSD symptoms and depression symptoms was partly statistically mediated by interpersonal sensitivity. Further, findings indicated that the relationship between trauma and anger responses was fully statistically mediated by interpersonal sensitivity. These results suggest that interpersonal sensitivity may function as a key mechanism that contributes to psychopathology following trauma.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nickerson
authors.affiliation: Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Barts' and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Priebe
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nexhmedin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morina
mesh_terms: D000786:Anger; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011599:Psychopathology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014857:Warfare; D015022:Yugoslavia / Q000453:epidemiology