Introduction
Trauma exposure
The role of executive functions in the development of PTSD
EF as a mediator in the link between trauma and PTSD
Research questions
Method
Sample
Procedure
Type of trauma | Control group (n = 40) | Single trauma Group (n = 41)
| Complex trauma group (n = 38)
|
---|---|---|---|
Traffic accident | 29 | – | |
Severe bullying | 4 | 3 | |
Maltreatment | 2 | 30 | |
Sexual abuse/assault | 2 | 5 | |
Other | 4 | – | |
Mean age (SD) | 13.88 (2.50) | 14.00 (2.04) | 13.03 (2.73) |
Female sex (%) | 17 (42.50) | 24 (58.53) | 24 (63.16) |
Variables
Executive functions
Posttraumatic stress
Data analysis
Results
Trauma exposure | Executive function | Posttraumatic stress | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GEC | BRI | MI | In | Av | Ar | ||
Executive function | |||||||
Global executive (GEC) | 0.34* | ||||||
Behavior regulation (BRI) | 0.29* | 0.91* | |||||
Metacognition (MI) | 0.32* | 0.95* | 0.77* | ||||
Posttraumatic stress | |||||||
Intrusion (In) | 0.24* | 0.37* | 0.37* | 0.31* | |||
Avoidance (Av) | 0.41* | 0.41* | 0.42* | 0.35* | 0.78* | ||
Arousal (Ar) | 0.45* | 0.49* | 0.50* | 0.43* | 0.68* | 0.74* | |
Total | 0.40* | 0.47* | 0.47* | 0.40* | 0.87* | 0.90* | 0.87* |
Control group | Single trauma group | Complex trauma group |
F
|
p
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | |||
Executive function | ||||||||
Global executive |
47.10
|
9.08
|
50.22
|
9.18
|
60.16
|
10.72
|
19.29
|
0.000
|
Behavior regulation |
48.20
|
9.80
|
50.15
|
10.69
|
60.84
|
9.95
|
17.40
|
0.000
|
Metacognition |
47.15
|
8.32
|
49.80
|
8.12
|
58.32
|
10.40
|
16.39
|
0.000
|
Posttraumatic stress | ||||||||
Intrusion |
4.45
|
4.04
|
5.51
|
6.31
|
9.63
|
6.02
|
9.44
|
0.000
|
Avoidance |
3.10
|
3.35
|
6.12
|
6.77
|
11.24
|
5.84
|
21.57
|
0.000
|
Arousal |
4.20
|
3.42
|
8.14
|
6.42
|
13.29
|
7.11
|
23.50
|
0.000
|
Total |
11.75
|
8.49
|
20.05
|
18.16
|
33.00
|
17.12
|
19.26
|
0.000
|
Executive function (EF) | Posttraumatic stress | |
---|---|---|
B (SE) |
B (SE) | |
Model excluding (EF) | ||
Constant | – | 11.75 (1.36)* |
Single trauma | – | 8.30 (3.18)* |
Complex trauma | – | 21.25 (3.13)* |
Model including (EF) | ||
Constant | 47.10 (1.45)* |
−10.26 (7.11) |
Single trauma | 3.12 (2.05) | 6.84 (3.05)* |
Complex trauma | 13.06 (2.28)* | 15.15 (3.40)* |
Executive function (EF) | – | 0.47 (0.15)* |