PurposeStudies conducted in the USA, Canada and Denmark have supported the existence of the dissociative PTSD subtype, characterized primarily by symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. The current study aimed to examine the dissociative PTSD subtype in an Eastern European, predominantly female (83.16%) sample, using an extended set of dissociative symptoms.MethodsA latent profile analysis was applied to the PTSD and dissociation data from 689 trauma-exposed university students from Slovakia.ResultsFour latent profiles of varying PTSD and dissociation symptomatology were uncovered. They were named non-symptomatic, moderate PTSD, high PTSD and dissociative PTSD. The dissociative PTSD profile showed elevations on depersonalization and derealization, but also the alternative dissociative indicators of gaps in awareness and memory, sensory misperceptions and cognitive and behavioural re-experiencing. The core PTSD symptoms of ‘memory impairment’ and ‘reckless or self-destructive behaviour’ were also significantly elevated in the dissociative PTSD profile. Moreover, anxiety and anger predicted membership in the dissociative PTSD profile.ConclusionThe results provide support for the proposal that the dissociative PTSD subtype can be characterized by a variety of dissociative symptoms.

The changes in people’s mental health have become one of the hot topics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents have been said to be among the most vulnerable groups in terms of the imposed anti-pandemic measures. The present paper analyzes the trends in mental health indicators in a sample of Slovak parents (N = 363) who participated in four waves of data collection over a year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mental health indicators were represented by general levels of depression and anxiety as well as COVID-related stress and anxiety. While there were only minor changes in depression and anxiety, the dynamic in COVID-related stress and especially anxiety was more noteworthy. Besides some exceptions, the results hold even after controlling for the socioeconomic situation. The gender differences in the mental health trends were found to be negligible. Overall, we observed no substantial deterioration in the mental health indicators across the four waves of the study.

The study verified self-esteem, extraversion, neuroticism and health as predictors of subjectively-assessed quality of life. The sample included 109 adolescents (69 healthy adolescents and 40 adolescents with upper respiratory tract disease). The research tools used were WHOQOL-BREF (WHO, 1998), Rosenberg´s self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and NEO-FFI personality questionnaire (Hřebíčková et al., 2002). The results were processed using the multiple linear regression analysis stepwise method. Health was not found to be a predictor of subjectively-assessed quality of life in the research sample. Self-esteem was found to be a predictor of psychological (48% of variance) and environmental (25% of variance) quality of life. Neuroticism was confirmed as a predictor only for physical quality of life (8% of variance). Extraversion was established as a universal predictor for all the aspects of quality of life measured: physical (20% of variance), psychological (8% of variance) and environmental (10% of variance).

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