Sheehy Kriszha A, Hruska Bryce, Waldrep Edward E, Pacella-LaBarbara Maria L, George Richard L, Benight Charles C, Delahanty Douglas L
Department of Psychology, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, USA.
Department of Public Health, Syracuse University, Syracuse, USA.
Anxiety Stress Coping. 2023 Nov;36(6):770-780. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2023.2199208. Epub 2023 May 1.
Social support confers a protective effect against elevated PTSD symptomatology following injury. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which social support conveys this protective mental health effect in injury survivors. Coping self-efficacy is linked to both social support and PTSD symptomatology but has not been examined.
To test coping self-efficacy as a mechanism for the relationship between social support and PTSD symptom severity among injury survivors.
Participants consisted of 61 injury survivors (62.3% male, 72.1% White) admitted to a Level-1 Trauma Center. Social support was assessed at 2-weeks post-injury; coping self-efficacy at 6-weeks post-injury; and PTSD symptom severity at 3-months post-injury.
A statistically significant indirect effect was found for the social support - coping self-efficacy - PTSD symptomatology pathway, providing evidence of mediation even after controlling for age, sex, race, and education ( = -0.51, = 0.18, = -0.92, -0.20).
Social support may exert an effect on PTSD symptom severity post-injury through its connection with coping self-efficacy. Coping self-efficacy represents an important intervention target following injury for those survivors with lower social support who are at risk for elevated PTSD symptom severity levels.
