Naslov
Can the assumptive world of the child be shattered by war experience?

Autori
Kuterovac Jagodić, Gordana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Psychotraumatology Clinical Practice and Human Rights / Yuksel, Sahika ; Schnyder, Urlich ; Orner, Roederick - Istanbul : Turkish Neuropsychiatric Society, 1999

Skup
European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies 6th European Conference on Traumatic Stress

Mjesto i datum
Istanbul, Turska, 05.06.1999. - 08.06.1999

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
children; fundamental assumption scale; war

Sažetak
Assumptive world of a person which serve as a cognitive-emotional guide to the world and self begin to form in the infancy and is built upon and validated during latter childhood. The core of assumptive world of most people consists of three abstract beliefs about themselves, the external world and the relationship between them (Janoff-Bulman, 1992). People believe in benevolence of the world (people and events), meaningfulness of the world (contingency between people’s nature and outcomes of their behaviour) and in self-worth (positive evaluation of the self). Although generally very resistant to change, people’s fundamental assumptions are seriously threatened by extreme negative events, particularly by traumatic ones. The goal of this study was to construct a self-report instrument for assessment of the assumptive world of children and to examine whether children that experienced war in their country and suffer from various degree of posttraumatic stress reactions have shattered fundamental assumptions about world and themselves. In addition, the possible effect of the child’s age and gender was investigated. The Fundamental Assumptions Scale for Children (FASC) consists of 24 items that encompass the three basic assumptions about benevolence and meaningfulness of the world and self-worth. Children on a three point scale denote their level of agreement with the statements. Internal consistency of the scale is =.80, and of the subscales vary from = .68 to = .79. The FASC was administered on 783 school-age children from a region of Croatia that was seriously affected by war operations. There were 371 boys and 412 girls aged 11-16 years. The posttraumatic stress reactions of the children were assessed by the Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Scale for Children (Kuterovac Jagodić, Franc, Vizek Vidović, 1993) and according to the score categorised in three groups (low, medium, high intensity of symptoms). The 3 x 2 x 4 (level of PTSR-symptoms x sex x grade) factorial ANOVAs were performed for the total FASC score and subscale scores. The results show the main effects of the level of traumatization and age on the total and subscale scores and the main effect of sex only on subscales. Children that report more posttraumatic reactions and older children tend to see world as less benevolent, meaningful and self as less worthy. The effect of the child’s sex vary: girls see world less benevolent and meaningful, and boys evaluate themselves as less worthy. Interaction effects were not found. Symptoms of intrusion showed the highest negative correlation with the belief in self-worth and benevolence of the world while self-observed changes in children and symptoms of avoidance correlated with lowered self-evaluation. In conclusion, children’s assumptive world can be assessed by an paper-and-pencil instrument such as The Fundamental Assumptions Scale for Children (Kuterovac-Jagodić, 1998). In addition, this study showed that child’s fundamental assumptions that are still in the process of building can be shattered (or perhaps, never even constructed in the positive manner) by the experience of war. The state of war enables children to grow up in a secure, protective environment and question trustworthiness in people

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA