The Collective Impact of Sex and Interpersonal vs. Non-Interpersonal Trauma Exposure on Event Centrality
Cassidy Pridemore, B. Davis, Sky Aldrich, and Jonathan Larson
Event centrality (EC) refers to how an individual’s identity, life story, and world view is impacted by trauma or stressful life events (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006), and is a well-documented predictor of post-traumatic stress severity (PTSS; Gehrt et al., 2018). Previous research has indicated that females have higher levels of both EC and PTSS (Boals, 2007). Interpersonal trauma directly involves another person during an event (e.g., sexual assault) and is associated with higher levels of PTSS than non-interpersonal trauma (Yoo et al., 2018) which does not directly involve another person during an event (e.g., natural disasters; Reiland & Clark, 2016). No studies to date have examined the collective impact of sex, trauma type (interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal), and, importantly, the interaction between the two on EC. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to examine these relationships. We predicted the highest levels of event centrality for females who experienced interpersonal trauma (supported, M = 22.71, SD = 6.09) and the lowest levels for males who experienced non-interpersonal trauma (not supported, M = 19.74 , SD = 7.28). We also predicted that trauma type has a stronger influence on EC than sex (not supported, βsex =.100, p = .033, R2sex = .013; βtrauma = .071, p = .129, R2trauma =.005). Additionally, we predicted that the interaction of trauma type and sex is a stronger influence on EC than either predictor alone (supported, βsex = .048, p = .34; βtrauma = -.233, p = .05; βinteraction = .341, p < .01, R2interaction = .027).
Cassidy Pridemore is a senior psychology major with a minor in child and family studies. She is a research assistant for the Stress and Cognition Lab, Supplemental Instructor, President of Psi Chi, and a peer tutor in the Writing Center.
B. Davis is a Lander psychology graduate from Rock Hill, SC. She has experience assisting on a research team for the Stress and Cognition Lab. She was also a member of the psychology club and her goal is to study trauma in inmates within correctional facilities.
Sky Aldrich is a senior psychology major and she has been a research assistant for the Stress and Cognition Lab for the last two years.
Jonathan Larson is a senior psychology major at Lander University. This is his first year as a research assistant for the Stress and Cognition lab. He's also a member of Psi Chi and the National Residence Hall Honorary.