Reciprocal Association between Psychological Distress and PTSD and Their Relationship with Pre-Displacement Stressors among Displaced Women

摘要

It is established in the psychological literature that pre-displacement stressors,PTSD symptoms,and psycholo-gical distress are associated among internally displaced persons.However,existing studies have not demonstrated the mechanism underlying these associations.This study compared two explanatory models;one with PTSD symptoms severity explaining the indirect association between pre-displacement stressors and psychological dis-tress,and the other with psychological distress explaining the indirect relationship between pre-displacement stressors and PTSD symptoms severity.In a cross-sectional design,631 women(Mean age=31.18±8.59)were conveniently and purposely selected from the displaced women harboured in two camps in Borno State,Nigeria,due to the Boko-Haram insurgency.Data were collected utilizing structured questionnaires and subjected to path analyses.Results demonstrated that PTSD symptoms severity and psychological distress indirectly explained their respective and independent association with pre-displacement stressors.However,PTSD symptoms had a statis-tically larger standardized indirect effect size,greater indirect effect percentage,and bigger kappa-squared(k2)effect size than psychological distress.PTSD symptoms and psychological distress may have a reciprocal influence on each other from pre-displacement stressors.However,PTSD symptoms can better explain the association between pre-displacement stressors and psychological distress than the other way around.These outcomes have important implications for the psychological treatment of displaced persons.