Media Exposure and General Trust as Predictors of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Ten Years after the 5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake in China

• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15112386
• Publication Date: 2018-10-29T15:10:41Z
• Authors: Lingnan He; Kaisheng Lai; Zhongxuan Lin; Zhihao Ma
• Keywords: Traumatic stress; Cross-sectional study; Media Coverage

There is a paucity of literature on the roles media exposure, general trust, and their interactions in long-term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after natural disaster. Trying to address this knowledge gap, our study aimed (a) investigate whether exposure coverage during traumatic event trust directly affected adult survivors' PTSD 10 years 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake, (b) identify potential differential pattern influence for survivors with various levels trust. Using cross-sectional methodology, we surveyed participants (N = 1000) recruited from six disaster-affected counties. We assessed symptoms, demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, earthquake exposure. Data were analyzed descriptively Tobit regression analyses. Reversed relationships between verified, whereas no direct links found PTSD. Interaction tests revealed that alleviated high-trust survivors, but aggravated low-trust survivors. These results suggest building should be considered post-disaster construction activities.