Self-Efficacy as an Agentic Protective Factor against Death Anxiety in PTSD and Psychiatric Co-Morbidity

Abstract

PTSD has profound personal, social and economic impact. Understanding factors that influence strong recovery is a priority for informing the use of limited treatment resources. This study follows up a preliminary finding from Hoelterhoff and Cheung Chung, Psychiatr Q, 88,[635][636][637][638][639][640][641][642][643][644][645][646][647][648][649][650][651][30] which found that death anxiety is related to PTSD and suggested that selfefficacy may mediate this relationship. Specifically, this study examined self-efficacy as a protective factor in the context of people who have experienced a life-threatening event. 109 undergraduate university students completed self-report questionnaires on, self-efficacy, death anxiety, trauma and well-being as well as a number of demographic factors. Self-efficacy was found that to be significantly and inversely related to death anxiety and psychiatric comorbidity, but not PTSD. Results were discussed in light of literature regarding death anxiety. It seems that self-efficacy is related to death anxiety and well-being; however, it interacts with these processes independently and not as a mediating factor. More research is needed to understand coping mechanisms that help develop resilience against the negative effects of death anxiety against PTSD and minimize its detrimental impact on mental health.

Intolerance to uncertainty and self-efficacy as mediators between personality traits and adjustment disorder in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In addition, self-efficacy has been found to predict mental health in general (e.g., Andersson et al, 2014 ; Hoelterhoff & Chung, 2020 ) and adjustment disorder in particular (Fankhauser et al, 2011 ; Lorenz et al, 2018 ). Lower levels of self-efficacy were associated with both elevated symptom severity and the probability of inclusion in an adjustment disorder diagnostic assessment (Lorenz et al, 2018 ).…”

King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Higher-Education Students from the Armed Conflict Region of Thailand

“…2 According to DSM-5 and several other studies, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) negatively impacts many dimensions of well-being-physical, mental, social, and economical. [2][3][4][5][6] Moreover, Hoelterhoff and Chung, 4 maintain that "self-efficacy" is a mediator in controlling PTSD symptoms after the patient experienced life-threatening events. Higher education, being employed, and being "never married" were found to be protective factors among survivors of the 2001 World Trade Center attack.…”