PURPOSE

The earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, caused significant losses in Turkey. While a large number of people are exposed to trauma, only a few develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has been suggested that peritraumatic dissociation and dysfunctional beliefs also play a role in the emergence and maintenance of PTSD, and resilience is one of the most important protective factors for PTSD. This study is to test the moderated mediating role of resilience on beliefs about losing control (BALC) and its associations with peritraumatic dissociation and PTSD in earthquake survivors.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

A total of 112 individuals living in the tent city of Hatay and Kahramanmaraş Provinces, which experienced earthquakes in 2023 in Turkey, were included in the study. Participants completed Sociodemographic Information Form, PTSD Symptom Scale-Self-Report, Brief Resilience Scale, Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire, and Beliefs about Losing Control Inventory.

RESULTS

Peritraumatic dissociation positively correlated with BALC (β = 0.487, p < 0.001). BALC acts as a mediator and positively predicts post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) (β = 0.321, p < 0.001). The interaction between BALC and resilience also had a significant effect on PTSS (β = 0.032, p < 0.05). The relationship between BALC and PTSS was significant at high and medium resilience levels (p<0.05) but not at low resilience.

CONCLUSION

Peritraumatic dissociation predicts PTSS both directly and through BALC, and higher levels of resilience are more likely than lower levels of resilience to attenuate the effects of BALC on PTSS in earthquake survivors.