Anticipatory Traumatic Reaction: Outcomes Arising From Secondary Exposure to Disasters and Large-Scale Threats

Abstract

Two studies, with a total of 707 participants, developed and examined the reliability and validity of a measure for anticipatory traumatic reaction (ATR), a novel construct describing a form of distress that may occur in response to threat-related media reports and discussions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a scale comprising three subscales: feelings related to future threat; preparatory thoughts and actions; and disruption to daily activities. Internal consistency was .93 for the overall ATR scale. The ATR scale demonstrated convergent validity through associations with negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, neuroticism, and repetitive negative thinking. The scale showed discriminant validity in relationships to Big Five characteristics. The ATR scale had some overlap with a measure of posttraumatic stress disorder, but also showed substantial separate variance. This research provides preliminary evidence for the novel construct of ATR as well as a measure of the construct. The ATR scale will allow researchers to further investigate anticipatory traumatic reaction in the fields of trauma, clinical practice, and social psychology.

The school-led Preventure study: Protocol of a cluster-randomised controlled trial of effectiveness to prevent adolescent alcohol misuse, internalising problems, and externalising problems through a personality-targeted intervention delivered by school staff

“…A range of other measures will also be included to describe the sample and explore the relationships between these measures and the primary outcomes: Demographics (age, gender, sex at birth, country of birth, grades at school, truancy, and a proxy for family socio-economic status used in the HBSC study, which includes items such as the number of cars and computers in the family home ( Currie et al, 1997 ); Age of first alcohol consumption, maximum number of standard drinks consumed on one occasion and perceived proportion of students’ friends who drink alcohol (adapted from the School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction Project ‘Patterns of Alcohol’ index ( McBride et al, 2004 ); Other drug use (ecstasy, methamphetamine); Social contact and support (Items used from the National Survey on Mental Health ( Slade et al, 2007 ); Interpersonal emotion regulation (a shortened version of the Interpersonal Regulation Questionnaire ( Williams et al, 2018 ); Emotional neglect (adapted from the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study ( Felitti et al, 1998 ); Relationship with a parent/guardian (The Parental Bonding Instrument ( Parker et al, 1979 ); Climate change anxiety (adapted from the Anticipatory Traumatic Reaction feelings subscale ( Hopwood et al, 2017 ); Covid-19 exposure and impact (sourced from the Australian National Covid-19 mental health, behaviour and risk communication survey ( Australian National University, 2020 ), and the Distress Questionnaire-5 ( Batterham et al, 2016 ). …”

“…Climate change anxiety (adapted from the Anticipatory Traumatic Reaction feelings subscale ( Hopwood et al, 2017 );…”

Keeping Employees Safe During Health Crises: The Effects of Media Exposure, HR Practices, and Age

“…People who have exposure to crises and traumatic events via media tend to experience negative reactions (Hopwood et al, 2019 ; Lachlan et al, 2010 ). Although media provide people an indirect exposure to trauma, people can experience increased levels of threat perception through such media (Maeseele et al, 2008 ).…”

An investigation on information quality, media richness, and social media fatigue during the disruptions of COVID-19 pandemic

“…In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, public is more likely to to rely on salient examples to evaluate their severity or the probability of being personally affected, especially when news is distressing and frightening (Zillmann, 2002 ). This becomes an issue as the frequent reminders of COVID-19 (not only via words or texts, but also through personal appeal or videos showing the painful patients) on social media may disproportionately weigh on people as they assess potential threats, even when they are not directly affected (Hopwood et al, 2019 ), which have intensified the anxiety of this pandemic (Yoon et al, 2021 ). Therefore, when encountering information about COVID-19 on SMP via rich media forms, individuals may not form correct and clear perceptions of EDC and thus may not effectively adapt their behavior and attitudes, leading to EDC having exaggerated influence.…”