The Role of Personality and Subjective Exposure Experiences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Symptoms among Children Following Wenchuan Earthquake

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the role of personality traits and subjective exposure experiences in posttraumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms. In Qingchuan, 21,652 children aged 7 to 15 years were assessed using face-to-face interviews one year after the Wenchuan earthquake in China. The Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, a modified earthquake exposure scale, the UCLA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (adolescent), and the Adolescent Depression Inventory were used to assess personality characteristics, trauma experiences, posttraumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms, respectively. The measurement was completed with 20,749 children. After adjusting for other factors by multinomial logistic regression analysis, neuroticism, having felt unable to escape from the disaster and having been trapped for a longer time were risk factors of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms. Socialization was a protective factor of them. Having felt extreme panic or fear was a risk factor of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. For depression symptoms, introversion and psychoticism were risk factors, and extraversion was a protective factor. This study was conducted with the largest representative sample of child survivors of a natural, devastating disaster in a developing country. These results could be useful for planning psychological intervention strategies for children and for influencing further research.

Dispositional mindfulness mediates the relations between neuroticism and posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in Chinese adolescents after a tornado

“…Specifically, our direct effect model results suggested that neuroticism positively associated with PTSD and depression symptoms, which is partially consistent with Nolen-Hoeksema and Watkins (2011) heuristic for developing transdiagnostic models of psychopathology and previous research (Breslau & Schultz, 2013; Chen et al, 2017). These results also indicated that neuroticism could play a negative role in mental health among traumatized adolescents, regardless of the stressful experience one has.…”

“…For example, among a sample of 1007 American young adults during the 10-year follow-up, Breslau and Schultz’s (2013) prospective investigation confirmed the role of neuroticism as diathesis in the PTSD response to traumatic experiences. Similarly, by examining a sample of 21,652 adolescent survivors aged 7–15 years 1 year after the Wenchuan earthquake, Chen et al’s (2017) study found that neuroticism was a risk factor of PTSD and depression symptoms. Since we found there are close relations between neuroticism, PTSD, and depression symptoms, this study aimed to examine the predictive mechanisms by considering the mediating role of dispositional mindfulness.…”

Neuroticism Predicts a Long-Term PTSD After Earthquake Trauma: The Moderating Effects of Personality

“…In addition, trauma factors of an earthquake associated with the trauma severity should also be taken into account as the rate of PTSD can vary with severity of the event and the duration of trauma exposure, which was one of the most important post-disaster stressors for PTSD (26, 27). For instance, Chen and Xu et al (28) investigated the role of personality traits and subjective exposure experiences in PTSD among 20,749 children who experienced the Wenchuan earthquake and found that, besides neuroticism, subjective exposure experiences are also risk factors for PTSD. Furthermore, Guo et al (29) highlighted the interacted effect of trauma exposure and trait neuroticism on PTSD symptoms among adolescents exposed to a pipeline explosion.…”

The role of trauma experiences, personality traits, and genotype in maintaining posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among child survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake

“…A total of 20,749 children aged 7-15 years old in Qingchuan were thoroughly tested by the adolescent version of the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index, the earthquake exposure scale, and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQ) by trained psychiatrists. According to the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index score, 3982 children had PTSD symptoms [4]. We randomly selected two villages out of the 31 townships in Qingchuan and recruited all the children with PTSD symptoms in the two towns as our subjects.…”

“…Previously published studies on the onset factors of PTSD have confirmed the influence of trauma experiences, personality traits, and genotype [4,17,18]. However, the maintenance factors of PTSD are rarely systematically evaluated.…”