Traumatic Experiences, Cognitive Errors, and Feelings of Rejection among Internally Displaced Youth: An analysis of Operation Zarb-e-Azb

Research on children affected by armed conflict and displacement demonstrates increased risk for multiple psychological consequences (Lustig et al., 2004) including PTSD, maladjustment, cognitive deficits and psychological distress (Barenbaum, 2004). The present research was planned to examine the mediating role of cognitive errors in the relationship between traumatic experiences and rejection feelings among internally displaced youth during operation Zarb e Azb. A sample of 300 young adolescents (boys = 244, Girls = 56) with an age ranging from 12 to 16 years (M= 15.27, SD=1.20) was taken from Karak, Bannu, and Peshawar districts of Pakistan. Stressful Life Events Scale (Rehna & Hanif, Unpublished), Children’s Negative Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (Leitenberg, Yost, & Carroll-Wilson, 1986), and Feelings of Rejection a subscale of School Children Problem Scale (Saleem & Mehmood, 2011) were administered on youth. Results showed that relationship between traumatic experiences and feelings of rejection was partially mediated by Catastrophizing (indirect effect = 0.01, Sobel t = 4.50, p<.00), Personalization (indirect effect = .01, Sobel t = 3.18, p<.00), selective abstraction (indirect effect = .01, Sobel t = 4.77, p<.00) and over generalization (indirect effect = .02, Sobel t = 5.34, p<.00). Findings have been discussed in theoretical as well as cultural perspectives.