ABSTRACT
In September of 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane María. Reactions to the hurricane were widely discussed on the social media site Twitter. The principal aim of the study was to examine the psychological processes of tweets one-year after Hurricane Maria and compare patterns of psychological processes within tweets originating from Puerto Rico relative to tweets originating from the continental United States and other countries. Also, researchers aim to geo-map the origin of tweets, as well as psychological processes exhibit in tweets world-wide. Researchers collected tweets (N = 1191) using #María, #PRSeLevanta, and #PuertoRico between September 20, 2018 to September 25, 2018. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software application was used to conduct a quantitative linguistic analysis of the sample of tweets, which classified the language utilized in the tweets across affective, social, psychological, and cognitive dimensions. A one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of variance investigated whether the affective, social, psychological and cognitive dimensions of the language utilized in the tweet varied as a function of where the tweet originated. Tweets varied in psychosocial dimensions as a function of where they originated, such that tweets originating from Puerto Rico used more language classified as positive emotion, cognitive processes, and referencing money in comparison to tweets originating elsewhere. These findings demonstrate how the particular use of words after a traumatic event can provide rich information about psychological processes and health outcomes experienced by individuals in the aftermath of disaster.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The current study sought to investigate the link between cumulative childhood trauma and depressive mood in urban Latina mothers (n = 209). Specifically, we tested the role of ethnic pride and its conditional direct and indirect effect on depressive mood with interpersonal functioning as a mediating pathway. Method: The sample (age: M = 36.62, SD = 6.72; 83.3% foreign-born) comprises mothers of children enrolled in a school-based intervention study. Analyses focus on baseline data, including interviews assessing childhood trauma, interpersonal functioning, depression, ethnic pride, and acculturation conducted by bilingual (Spanish and English) clinicians in the preferred language of the participants. Results: Using linear regression analyses, results indicated that the link between childhood trauma and depression functions in part through impairments in interpersonal functioning. Ethnic pride moderated the indirect pathway serving as a buffer for those with low interpersonal functioning. Conclusions: Findings highlighted the saliency of including ethnic pride when working with Latina mothers and provided important implications for assessment and clinical intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Subject(s)
Adverse Childhood Experiences/psychology , Hispanic or Latino/psychology , Interpersonal Relations , Mothers/psychology , Social Identification , Acculturation , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , Adverse Childhood Experiences/ethnology , Depression/epidemiology , Depression/ethnology , Depression/etiology , Female , Hispanic or Latino/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Linear Models , Middle Aged , Mothers/statistics & numerical data , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
Peer victimization is a common stressor experienced by children. Although peer victimization has been studied extensively, few studies have examined the potential link between peer victimization and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and no studies of which we are aware have examined this link among children in primary school. The paucity of studies examining the link between PTSD and peer victimization in primary school is surprising because peer victimization occurs more frequently and is more likely to be physical among 7- and 8-year-old children. This study assessed the relationship between peer victimization and PTSD in a sample of 358 elementary school children (ages 6-11 years). Results indicated that peer victimization accounted for 14.1% of PTSD symptom severity among boys and 10.1% among girls. Additionally, we found gender differences in the types of peer victimization that were most associated with PTSD symptom severity (d = 0.38). The long-term developmental consequences that may be associated with peer victimization-linked PTSD symptomatology are discussed.
