title: Associations between executive functions and long-term stress reactions after extreme trauma: A two-year follow-up of the Utøya survivors.
abstract: Terror attacks cause variation in everyday functioning across several domains. This paper focuses on the individual long-term costs in terms of clinical symptoms and cognitive (e.g., shifting, inhibition, and spatial working memory) difficulties associated with these symptoms in 24 survivors of a terror attack in Norway. Another 24 controls were included for comparison purposes. Participants were administered a battery of clinical and neurocognitive tests. Results showed that all clinical variables differed as a function of group, ps ≤ .001, η2 ≥ .64, but no significant differences were revealed for the neurocognitive measures. In the survivor group, shifting capacity and its interaction with gender predicted intrusion symptoms, p = .045, ηp2 = .338, and symptoms of avoidance, p = .008, ηp2 = .453. We discuss the findings in relation to theoretical models and therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Developmental Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melinder
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Developmental Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.
authors.forename: Else-Marie
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Augusti
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Developmental Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matre
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.
authors.forename: Tor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Endestad
mesh_terms: D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents / Q000523:psychology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009664:Norway; D011379:Prognosis; D065852:Spatial Memory; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult