Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2022 Jun 1;13(1):2078563. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2022.2078563. eCollection 2022.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected college students' mental health and caused post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Event centrality is thought to play a key role in the development of PTSS, but it is not yet clear by what mechanism. Theoretically, event centrality may affect the retrieval of traumatic memories and further prompt post-traumatic cognitions to understand events, and so may in turn be associated with PTSS in college students. However, few empirical studies have examined the mediating role of post-traumatic cognitions in the relationship between event centrality and PTSS, especially among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The objective of this study was to examine the mediating roles of post-traumatic cognitive factors (e.g. attention to negative information, catastrophizing, and rumination) in the relationship between event centrality and PTSS among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We recruited 1153 college students who completed the pandemic experiences scale, the centrality of event scale, the attention to positive and negative information scale, the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, and the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020.
In this sample of college students, event centrality directly predicted PTSS, and PTSS was also indirectly predicted by event centrality through attention to negative information, catastrophizing, and rumination.
These findings support the existing literature on the relationship between event centrality, proposed cognitive variables, and PTSS, and shed light on the mechanisms underlying PTSS. Our findings also highlight the importance and applicability of targeted cognitive interventions for PTSS in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused post-traumatic stress symptoms among college students.Event centrality is a risk factor of post-traumatic stress symptoms among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Attention to negative information, catastrophizing and rumination mediate the relationship between event centrality and post-traumatic stress symptoms.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行影响了大学生的心理健康，并导致创伤后应激症状（PTSS）。事件中心性被认为在 PTSD 的发展中起着关键作用，但目前尚不清楚其作用机制。从理论上讲，事件中心性可能会影响创伤记忆的检索，并进一步促使创伤后认知理解事件，因此可能与大学生的 PTSD 有关。然而，很少有实证研究检验事件中心性与 PTSD 之间关系中创伤后认知因素的中介作用，尤其是在 COVID-19 大流行期间的大学生中。
本研究旨在检验 COVID-19 大流行期间大学生中事件中心性与 PTSD 之间关系中创伤后认知因素（如对负面信息的关注、灾难化和反刍）的中介作用。
我们招募了 1153 名大学生，他们在 2020 年 5 月 COVID-19 大流行期间完成了大流行经历量表、事件中心量表、对正负面信息的关注量表、认知情绪调节问卷和 PTSD 检查表 DSM-5。
在这个大学生样本中，事件中心性直接预测 PTSD，而 PTSD 也通过对负面信息的关注、灾难化和反刍间接预测事件中心性。
这些发现支持了关于事件中心性、提出的认知变量与 PTSD 之间关系的现有文献，并阐明了 PTSD 的潜在机制。我们的研究结果还强调了针对 COVID-19 大流行期间大学生 PTSD 的有针对性认知干预的重要性和适用性。
COVID-19 大流行导致大学生出现创伤后应激症状。
事件中心性是 COVID-19 大流行期间大学生 PTSD 的一个风险因素。
对负面信息的关注、灾难化和反刍中介了事件中心性与创伤后应激症状之间的关系。
