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Locus of control and psychopathology in relation to levels of trauma and loss: Self‐reports of Peloponnesian wildfire survivors
Author(s) -
Mellon Robert C.,
Papanikolau Vasiliki,
Prodromitis Gerasimos
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20411
Subject(s) - psychopathology , locus of control , psychology , attribution , clinical psychology , injury prevention , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , psychiatry , developmental psychology , medicine , social psychology , medical emergency , pathology
This study investigated whether relations between beliefs aboutthe personal controllability of reinforcing events and levels of psychopathology were differentiated with respect to levels of trauma and loss experienced in a series of devastating wildfires. In contrast with studies of combat veterans and professional firefighters, in wildfire survivors external locus of control beliefs and psychopathology were correlated only in respondents who experienced higher levels of trauma and loss; specifically, for residents of designated disaster areas ( N = 409), but not for a demographically matched sample of residents of adjacent, non‐fire‐damaged areas ( N = 391). The conflicting findings across studies are interpreted with respect to probable differences in contingencies of reinforcement for causal attributions in professionals and in novices in disaster management.