Event centrality and posttraumatic stress symptoms after traumatic injury: A longitudinal investigation

Abstract

The development of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) can occur following a traumatic injury, which may include an increase in negative cognitions. One cognitive construct shown to be associated with the development of PTSS is event centrality, or the degree to which an individual views a traumatic experience as central to their life story. Although cross‐sectional work has demonstrated a robust connection between event centrality and PTSS, the directionality of this association remains unclear. Most previous work has investigated centrality as a predictor of PTSS, although one recent study suggests that PTSS may, in fact, predict event centrality. The current longitudinal study enrolled adult civilian participants (N = 191) from a Level 1 trauma center following a traumatic injury and assessed both event centrality and PTSS at three points posttrauma (3, 12, and 18 months). A time‐constrained random intercept cross‐lagged panel analysis showed that PTSS predicted event centrality over the 18‐month follow‐up period, B = 0.16, p = .021, but event centrality did not predict PTSS, B = ‐0.27, p = .340. These findings suggest that the development of PTSS following trauma exposure may lead to the perception of the traumatic event as central to an individual's story over time. Further longitudinal research is necessary to determine what variables may influence the connection between PTSS and event centrality.