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Mass Shootings: A Meta‐Analysis of the Dose‐Response Relationship
Author(s) -
Wilson Laura C.
Publication year - 2014
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.21964
Subject(s) - meta analysis , psychology , random effects model , posttraumatic stress , poison control , injury prevention , suicide prevention , human factors and ergonomics , demography , clinical psychology , medicine , medical emergency , sociology
A meta‐analysis was conducted to examine the dose‐response theory as it relates to posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) following mass shootings. It was hypothesized that greater exposure to a mass shooting would be associated with greater PTSSs. Trauma exposure in the current study was broadly defined as the extent to which a person experienced or learned about a mass shooting. The meta‐analysis identified 11 qualifying studies that included 13 independent effect sizes from a total of 8,047 participants. The overall weighted mean effect size, based on a random effects model, was r = .19, p < .001, 95% CI [.13, .25]. Maximum likelihood meta‐regressions revealed no significant linear effects of participant gender, participant age, or time elapsed since the shooting on the relationship between exposure and PTSSs. Because so few studies satisfied the inclusion criteria, the present study also documents that this area of the literature is underresearched.