Citation

Briere J, Dias CP, Semple RJ, Scott C, Bigras N, Godbout N. J. Trauma. Stress 2017; 30(4): 381-388.

Affiliation

Département de Sexologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.22200

PMID

28708283

Abstract

The relationship between type of trauma exposure, cumulative trauma, peritraumatic distress, and subsequent acute stress disorder (ASD) symptoms was examined prospectively in 96 individuals presenting with acute medical injuries to a Level 1 emergency/trauma department. Common precipitating traumas included motor vehicle-related events, stabbings, shootings, and physical assaults. At 2 to 3 weeks follow-up, 22.9% of participants had developed ASD. Univariate analysis revealed no relationship between type of precipitating trauma and ASD symptoms, whereas robust path analysis indicated direct effects of gender, lifetime cumulative trauma exposure, and peritraumatic distress. Peritraumatic distress did not mediate the association between cumulative trauma and symptoms, but did mediate the association between gender and symptomatology. These results, which account for 23.1% of the variance in ASD symptoms, suggest that ASD may be more due to cumulative trauma exposure than the nature of the precipitating trauma, but that cumulative trauma does not exert its primary effect by increasing peritraumatic distress to the most recent trauma.

Copyright © 2017 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Language: en