Do dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions play a mediating role in trauma adjustment? Findings from interpersonal and accidental trauma samples of children and adolescents

ABSTRACTBackground: Trauma adjustment varies in children and adolescents. Studies on objective risk factors of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) yielded inconsistent results. Dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) might play a mediating role between risk factors and posttraumatic symptomatology.Objective: To investigate the interplay of the characteristics of the trauma (e.g. trauma type), the characteristics of the individual (e.g. age, sex), and the characteristics of the social environment (e.g. parental distress, marital status) on PTSS and depression, taking the child’s dysfunctional PTCs into account as a possible mediator.Method: Structural equation modelling was used to better understand trauma adjustment in two heterogeneous samples of children and adolescents: a sample of 114 participants aged 7–16 after accidental trauma and a sample of 113 participants aged 6–17 after interpersonal trauma.Results: In the accidental trauma sample, dysfunctional PTCs mediated the positive associations ...