Disentangling Sense of Coherence and Resilience in case of multiple traumas.
BACKGROUND
Depressive and anxiety disorders (DAD) are a major public health problem. Trauma endured during childhood is known to increase the risk of DAD in adulthood. We investigate the hypothesis that Sense of Coherence (SOC) is a mediator between childhood trauma and depressive and anxious symptoms (DAD) in adulthood. We also explore the nature (personality trait or aptitude) of SOC and attempt to disentangle the concepts of resilience and SOC.


METHODS
Former hidden children (FHC), the Jewish youths who spent World War II in various hideaway shelters across Nazi-occupied Europe, were compared with a control group. In each group we measured the presence of multiple traumas, the resilience with the Resilience Scale for Adults, the DAD with the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist and the SOC with the SOC-13 self-report questionnaire. We tested a mediated moderation model with childhood Trauma as the predictor; Adulthood trauma as the moderator; SOC as the mediator; and DAD as the outcome variable.


RESULTS
Results were consistent with a sensitization model of DAD partially mediated by SOC. A first component of SOC was similar to an aptitude and another part of SOC was more similar to a personality trait.


CONCLUSIONS
We are unable to differentiate if the sensitization process is a consequence of the nature of the trauma endured by FHC (long-standing exposure to extreme external events) or a consequence of the fact that this first trauma occurred during childhood.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results could account for the controversial debate regarding the life time stability of SOC.
Brugmann Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Pierre
P
Fossion
Faculty of Psychology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: cleys@ulb.ac.be.
Christophe
C
Leys
Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Chantal
C
Kempenaers
Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Stéphanie
S
Braun
Brugmann Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Paul
P
Verbanck
Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Paul
P
Linkowski
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D047789:World War II
Multiple traumas; Resilience; Sense of Coherence