Centrality of Event and Mental Health Outcomes in Child and Adolescent Natural Disaster Survivors

Abstract

The experience of trauma could be considered a central event in one’s life, such that it could be a core component of one’s identity and life story. Indeed, trauma memories are well-remembered, vivid, intense, and easily accessible (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006). The present study investigated the mediating role of sensory-based trauma memory quality in the relationship between centrality of event and mental health outcomes among child and adolescent survivors of a natural disaster (N = 225) in its immediate aftermath. Results of mediation analyses revealed that centrality of trauma event is related to symptoms of acute stress disorder and depression through sensory-based trauma memory quality (indirect effect 95% C.I. [.06, .11] and [.04, .10], respectively). These findings support the contention that centrality of event is associated to heightened accessibility and vividness of sensory-based trauma memory quality, which in turn is related to an increase in trauma-related symptoms in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, where the reminders of trauma are particularly salient in the survivors’ environment and daily activities.

Vivid memories of distant trauma: Examining the characteristics of trauma memories and the relationship with the centrality of event and posttraumatic stress 26 years after trauma

“…This indicates that vividness and centrality are interdependent factors. Two previous studies have investigated the potential mediating effect of vividness on the association between centrality and posttraumatic stress reactions and the potential mediating effect of centrality on the association between vividness and posttraumatic stress reactions (Fitzgerald et al, ; Mordeno et al, ). However, future longitudinal studies are needed to disentangle the temporal relationships between these factors and to further reveal how these processes develop over time.…”

“…In one study, centrality was found to mediate the relationship between reliving and posttraumatic stress (Fitzgerald et al, ). In another study, the vividness of trauma memories was found to mediate the relationship between the centrality of event, and acute stress reactions and depression symptoms (Mordeno, Galela, Nalipay, & Cue, ).…”

Pain centrality mediates pain self‐efficacy and symptom severity among individuals reporting chronic pain

“…This study also further extends the link between centrality and psychopathology. The CES has been associated with PTSD (Boelen, 2012; Brown et al, 2010; Mordeno et al, 2018; Robinaugh & McNally, 2011; Rubin et al, 2014), depression (Mordeno et al, 2018), and anxiety symptoms (Berntsen & Rubin, 2007). With now several studies, using somewhat different measures, showing a link between centrality and pain issues, additional research is needed to consider centrality as a potential transdiagnostic mechanism underlying a range of clinical issues.…”

“…For example, the centrality of a traumatic or stressful event has consistently been associated with symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; Boelen, 2012; Brown, Antonuis, Kramer, Root, & Hirst, 2010; Mordeno, Galela, Nalipay, & Cue, 2018; Robinaugh & McNally, 2011; Rubin, Boals, & Hoyle, 2014). Although the majority of studies exploring event centrality have focused on symptoms of PTSD, studies have also found that event centrality is positively associated with depression (Mordeno et al, 2018), bereavement (Boelen, 2009), anxiety and dissociation (Berntsen & Rubin, 2007). Additionally, positive event centrality is typically associated with adaptive functioning while negative event centrality is associated with maladaptive functioning (Bernard, Whittles, Kertz, & Burke, 2015).…”

The Persian version of the centrality of event scale (CES): Assessment of validity and reliability among Iranian university students

“…Event centrality has been evidenced as one of the significant correlates of post‐traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in populations with different traumatic events, including survivors of childhood maltreatment (Watts et al., 2021), individuals diagnosed with PTSD (Uzer et al., 2020), survivors of natural disasters (Mordeno et al., 2018), refugees (Chung & Shakra, 2020), and bereaved undergraduates (Bellet et al., 2018). Research has shown that event centrality positively correlates with PTSD symptoms, even when controlling for event severity, depression, anxiety, dissociation, self‐consciousness, and personality traits (Berntse & Rubin, 2007; Ogle et al., 2013; Vermeulen et al., 2020).…”