ABSTRACT
This study investigated the hypothesis that posttraumatic stress is associated with a judgement of risk bias, defined as an overestimation of the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse events, as proposed by information-processing theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. Emergency medical service personnel with high PTSD symptomatology (n =27) and without PTSD symptoms (n = 74) completed the PTSD Symptom Scale: Self-report version, the Work Experiences Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and an Event Probability Questionnaire. Analysis showed that individuals with high PTSD symptomatology exhibited significantly more judgement of risk bias, that this cognitive bias was towards a wider range of threats than those involving only the threat of external harm, and that intrusion was its best predictor.
Subject(s)
Emergency Medical Technicians/psychology , Judgment , Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/epidemiology , Adult , Bias , Emergency Medical Technicians/statistics & numerical data , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Likelihood Functions , Male , Middle Aged , Occupational Diseases/diagnosis , Occupational Diseases/psychology , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Probability , Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data , Reproducibility of Results , Risk Assessment , Risk Factors , South Africa , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychologyABSTRACT
The Irrational Beliefs Inventory gives a measure of irrational beliefs, as postulated by Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavior therapy. Given the increasing cross-cultural use of psychometric scales, it is important to assess whether the psychometric properties of the inventory are consistent across cultures. In the present study cross-cultural applicability, in terms of internal consistency and independence of subscales, was investigated for an ad hoc sample of White (n= 100, M age = 21.3 yr., SD=4.0) and Black (n=82, M age=19.8 yr., SD=2.2) undergraduate South African university students. Cronbach coefficients alpha for the subscales and Pearson correlations between subscales for American and Dutch students, as reported by Bridges and Sanderman, were compared with those indices for the South African students. The magnitude and rank order of Cronbach alpha, as well as the correlations between subscales for the three groups showed strong similarities. Values of alpha for the Black South African students were lower in magnitude on all subscales than those for American, Dutch, and White South African samples, but intercorrelations between subscale scores were consistent. Findings in the present study are supportive of the cross-cultural applicability of the Irrational Beliefs Inventory to White South African students but not to South African Black students.
Subject(s)
Culture , Logic , Surveys and Questionnaires , Adult , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Female , Humans , Male , Netherlands , South Africa , United StatesABSTRACT
This study investigated the incidence of depression, posttraumatic stress symptomatology, anger, and guilt in a sample of 40 battered women in a shelter. Analysis indicated that 63% of the 40 scored moderate to severe on depression, 59% manifested high posttraumatic stress symptoms, while 38.4% and 54.5% reported problems with anger and guilt, respectively. Frequency and severity of physical abuse were not correlated with depressive or posttraumatic stress symptomatology.
