Resilient Coping Moderates the Effect of Trauma Exposure on Depression

Abstract

Posttraumatic depression rates are increasing in the United States, and there is a great need to identify malleable factors that could moderate posttraumatic depression levels. The purpose of this study was to examine whether resilient coping moderates the effects of trauma exposure on depression, while controlling for neuroticism-an established predictor of depressive symptoms. This study used data from 3,734 pairs of twins from the community-based University of Washington Twin Registry. Each twin pair was randomized with twin A in one subsample and twin B in the second subsample. The four-item Brief Resilient Coping Scale measured resilient coping. The two-item Patient Health Questionnaire measured depression. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed on each subsample, controlling for neuroticism. In addition to significant effects of neuroticism and trauma exposure on depression (p < .001), the effect of the interaction of resilient coping and trauma exposure on depression was significant in both subsamples (p < .01). High levels of resilient coping were associated with lower depression scores in the context of previous trauma exposure. Individuals high in resilient coping who experienced significant life traumas were less depressed after trauma exposure, even after controlling for neuroticism. Because coping skills may be learned, interventions that teach resilient coping to individuals with traumatic histories merit investigation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Associations between changes in resilient coping and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

“…In support of this essential aspect of construct validity, BRCS scores have been shown to buffer the effects of pain and stress on depressive symptoms in women with rheumatoid arthritis (Sinclair & Wallston, 2004), the effects of childhood adversity on distress in a large German community sample (Beutel et al, 2017), and the effects of depressive symptoms on health‐related quality of life in a U.S.–Danish sample (Kirby, Butt, Esmann, & Jemec, 2017). The BRCS has also been shown to moderate the effects of trauma exposure on depression in a large community‐based sample, while controlling for neuroticism (Sinclair, Wallston, & Strachan, 2016).…”

“…In this community‐based registry sample, less than half of the participants reported trauma experience (Sinclair et al, 2016). Therefore, to focus on participants who reported PTSD symptoms of intrusion and avoidance, we selected a subset of the overall registry sample with initial ( T 1) scores of at least 1.0 on either the Intrusion or Avoidance IES subscale.…”

Personality, resilience, and psychopathology: A model for the interaction between slow and fast network processes in the context of mental health

“…People who have been diagnosed with an MDD once, are not only more likely to suffer from another depressive episode again, but have also been found to have an increased level of neuroticism (Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995). On the other hand, individuals that show resilient coping mechanisms, are less depressed after being exposed to significant trauma, despite controlling for levels of neuroticism (Sinclair, Wallston and Strachan, 2016). Our model accommodates for these individual differences (Monroe & Harkness, 2005) by proposing that an individual's resilience against developing MDD affects their level of symptomatology and neuroticism, via either scarring or steeling effects.…”

The Importance of Parents' Community Connections for Adolescent Well‐being: An Examination of Military Families

“…Parents' ability to utilize adaptive cognitive and behavioral coping processes when faced with adversity was assessed using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS; Sinclair & Wallston, ). This scale has been shown to have adequate reliability and validity (Limonero et al., ; Logie, James, Tharao & Loutfy, ; Sinclair, Wallston & Strachan, ; Tomás, Sancho, Melendez & Mayordomo, ). Each parent indicated their agreement to four items on a 4‐point scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Sample items include: “I look for creative ways to alter difficult situations” and “I believe that I can grow in positive ways by dealing with difficult situations.” Mean scores were computed.…”