Mental Health Software

Posttraumatic Stress and Attributions in

College Students after Tornado Exposure

Sarah M. Scott1, Lisa Beck Xaysuda, B.A.2, & Caleb W. Lack, Ph.D.3

* ******** **** **********, * Mississippi State University, 3 University of Central Oklahoma

Introduction Methods

Many adults will be exposed to a natural disaster at some point during their Participants

lifetime, with estimates ranging between 13 30% (Green & Solomon, 1995). A A sample of 212 undergraduates from ATU participated in the current study.

significant portion of those exposed will not respond well and may experience Participants were predominately Caucasian (85%), single (81%), female (69%),

posttraumatic stress symptoms and/or other mental health difficulties (Briere and between the ages of 18 23 (83%), with an equal distribution of freshmen,

& Elliot, 2000). Unfortunately, however, there has been little research sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Over half (54%) reported positive for tornado

conducted examining the long term predictors of posttraumatic distress in exposure (defined as being within five miles of a tornado that touched down) in

adults exposed to natural disasters. In the literature, some recent research the last five years.

examining children exposed to tornadoes has focused on the role of

attributions and exposure in predicting distress, with attributions being found Procedures

to be very strong predictors (Lack & Sullivan, 2008). Attributions are defined Participants were recruited from undergraduate courses in psychology, sociology,

as the reasons or explanations for an occurrence, and have not been well and anthropology, with extra credit in those courses being offered in return for

researched in natural disasters. participation. All measures were completed online using QuestionPro survey

software, with no identifying information connected to their responses.

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between posttraumatic Participation took between 25 35 minutes.

stress symptoms, attributions, and level of exposure to a disaster in a college

population. There were three hypotheses for this study: 1) There would be a Measures

positive relationship between distress and the level of exposure the individual A series of three questionnaires were completed by the participants, with a

had to the tornado; 2) There would be a positive relationship between fourth questionnaire given only to those who reported exposure to a tornado.

distress and attributions; and 3) A combination of exposure level and First, a demographic questionnaire was administered to obtain basic information

attributions will be highly predictive of the level of distress associated with about the individuals and to determine whether or not they were exposed to a

exposure to a tornado. tornado. Those who were exposed to the tornado then completed a modified

version of the Tornado Exposure Questionnaire (Lack, 2008), assessing

information pertaining to what they experienced, while the other participants

proceeded to the Reaction Index (Frederick, 1985), a 20 item questionnaire

Results

measuring posttraumatic stress symptoms in the participants. Lastly, the Trauma

Contrary to expectations, current levels of PTSD symptoms from the exposed

Attribution Checklist (Knight & Sullivan, 2006), a 28 item self report measure

(M = 30.24, SD = 9.84) and non exposed groups (M = 31.85, SD = 9.99) were

that asked questions concerning personal attributions, omen formations, and

not significantly different (t = 1.18, p = .241), and indeed were both in the

the meaning coming from the disaster, was adapted for use in adults and given

moderate range of symptom severity according to the Reaction Index criteria.

to all participants.

Similar results were found on the Trauma Attribution Checklist. Comparing the

exposed group (M = 8.69, SD = 5.32) to the non exposed group (M = 8.86, SD =

5.87) showed there were no significant difference between the two groups (t =

Correlation table

0.21, p = .834). In addition, neither endorsed very high levels of overall

During tornado, how Since tornado, how

attributions for the disaster or imagined disaster. RI score TAC score distressed distressed

.622** .205* .348**

RI total score Pearson Correlation 1

To test the first and second hypotheses, correlational analyses were run on the Sig. (2 tailed) .000 .029 .000

scores from the exposed group. Positive significant relationships were found N 115-***-***-***

between total RI score and TAC total score (r = .548, p

TAC total score Pearson Correlation 1

distress during the tornado (r = .205, p = .029), and self reported distress since Sig. (2 tailed) .000 .015 .000

the tornado (r = .348, p

Contact this candidate