Risk factors of post-traumatic stress among survivors of the 2017 Iran earthquake: The importance of peritraumatic dissociation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the roles of pre-earthquake characteristics (age, gender, years of education, history of childhood and recent trauma and trait dissociation), during-the-earthquake state (peritraumatic dissociation) and post-earthquake difficulties (severity of exposure to earthquake) in post-traumatic stress among survivors of the 2017 Iran earthquake. A total number of 127 individuals in Kermanshah and 103 individuals in Sarpol-e Zahab completed and returned a 105-item questionnaire. Among these, 32 (25.2%) participants in the Kermanshah sample and 80 (77.7%) participants in the Sarpol-e Zahab sample scored equal to, or more than, the cut-off score of 33 on the Impact of Event Scale – Revised and, thus, were considered as having high likelihood of having PTSD. A three-model hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that pre-earthquake characteristics, during-the-earthquake state and post-earthquake difficulties each explained a unique variance of 11.3%, 34.4% and 14.7%, respectively, and together explained a total variance of 60.4% in post-traumatic stress. Earthquake victims who report higher degrees of peritraumatic dissociation during and immediately after the earthquake are more vulnerable to develop PTSD and should be prioritized in terms of receiving psychological interventions.