Women's self-perceptions in the aftermath of trauma: The role of trauma-centrality and trauma-type

Objective: Traumatic events tend to play a major role in the way we perceive ourselves. Whereas the links between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and self-perceptions are well examined, less is known regarding other factors that may be involved in the erosion of self-perceptions. We sought to examine the contribution of trauma-centrality and trauma-type to the erosion of self-perceptions following trauma. Our hypotheses were (a) trauma-centrality is significantly related to impairments in self-perceptions, (b) sexual assault (SA) is related to greater erosion in self-perceptions compared with motor vehicle accident (MVA) and to unexpected death (bereavement), and (c) the effects of trauma-centrality and trauma-type on self-perceptions remain significant when statistically controlling for levels of PTSD symptoms. Method: Adult American women (N = 108: SA = 48, MVA = 38, bereavement = 22) were recruited via online labor market and completed self-report measures of trauma history, PTSD symptoms, trauma-centrality, and several aspects of self-perceptions. Results: PTSD symptoms, trauma-centrality, and trauma-type were each found to contribute to the prediction of certain aspects of self-perceptions. Specifically, trauma-centrality was related to negative posttraumatic cognitions above and beyond the effects of PTSD symptoms. In addition, SA was related to greater impairments in global and domainspecific self-perceptions compared with MVA and bereavement. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the roles of trauma-centrality and trauma-type in the erosion of self-perceptions following trauma. Our data emphasize the importance of considering the multiple factors influencing self-perceptions and of adopting a multifaceted conceptualization of the self in trauma-related research and clinical practice.