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Social relations and PTSD symptoms: A prospective study on earthquake‐impacted adolescents in Taiwan
Author(s) -
Wu ChihHsun,
Chen SueHuei,
Weng LiJen,
Wu YinChang
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.20447
Subject(s) - structural equation modeling , psychology , social relation , association (psychology) , social support , longitudinal study , interpersonal relationship , epicenter , developmental psychology , social relationship , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , psychotherapist , statistics , mathematics , pathology , civil engineering , engineering
This prospective longitudinal study examined two competing models, a traditional social support model and a supportive and detrimental social relations model, to clarify the association of PTSD symptoms with supportive and detrimental social relations. Seven‐hundred five adolescents living near the epicenter of the Taiwan Chi‐Chi Earthquake participated in the study. The models were evaluated and cross‐validated using structural equation modeling. The supportive and detrimental social relations model appeared to be a better fit. After further evaluation of three nested versions of the supportive and detrimental social relations model, detrimental social relations was found to partially mediate the relationship between PTSD symptoms 1 and 2 years following the earthquake. The findings suggest that helping adolescents deal with detrimental social relations can contribute to postdisaster adjustment.