A study of the posttraumatic stress disorder, coping styles and security of witnessed college students

Abstract

Objective To explore the posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) symptoms, coping styles and security sense of witnessed college students. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 800 freshmen and sophomores students from a medical university in Guangzhou. The participants were asked to fill posttraumatic stress disorder self-rating scale (PTSD-SS) ,simplified coping style questionnaire(SCSQ) and security questionnaire(SQ). Results 155 college students had witnessed injury and the ratio was 20.5% ( P ＜ 0.05 ).Compared to the students who hadn't witnessed experience, the witnessed college students had less security( 50.78± 5.63 vs 52.01 ± 5.19 ), less active coping styles ( 34.94 ± 5.42 vs 35.88 ± 5.45 ) and less sense of control (25.07 ±4.25 vs 26.11 ±3.71 ) ,and they had got a higher score in PTSD symptoms and negative coping styles.Apart from the interpersonal sense of security,the other differences were significant between the two groups ( P＜0.05 ); the scores of PTSD symptoms had significant correlation with the total and subscales of coping styles and sense of control (P ＜ 0.01 or P ＜ 0.05 ). Conclusion The witnessed college students have severer PTSD symptoms and less security,and tend to take negative coping styles. Key words: College students ; Witnessed violence ; PTSD symptoms ; Coping styles ; Security ;