The Association between Self and Overgeneral Memory in Individuals with Interpersonal Trauma: Cognitive Coping Style as Moderator
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Kung, Yi-Wen
Abstract
Trauma survivors may face the disturbance of self (i.e. schema) and autobiographical memory (AM). With regard to the disturbance of self, according to the cognitive theories of PTSD, the shattered self as a result of traumatic events is the risk factor of PTSD. Past studies have showed that the impact of self and PTSD severity may be stronger in interpersonal trauma (IPT) survivors than non-IPT survivors. With regard to AM disturbance, overgeneral memory (OGM) refers to an ability to retrieve AM at the abstract level of AM, but hardly reach at the event-specific level of AM. According to Self-Memory System, the self may guide the retrieval of AM by inhibiting the specific information that is self-incoherent or threatening. However, very few studies have examined the relationship between self and OGM. Additionally, two cognitive coping styles, i.e. rumination and functional avoidance, may play important roles in the development of OGM based on the CaR-FA-X model. Therefore, the aims of the present study were, firstly, to examine the relationship between self and OGM in IPT survivors; secondly, to investigate the moderating effects of rumination and functional avoidance between the above relationship; thirdly, to examine the differences of self and OGM between individuals with and without IPT. There were 94 participants with IPT and 70 participants without IPT in this study. All participants completed self-report measures assessing schema, rumination, and functional avoidance, and autobiographical memory test measuring OGM. Results indicate a negative correlation between the positive schema and specificity of AM in participants with IPT. Functional avoidance, not rumination, moderated the relationship between self and OGM. Furthermore, compared with participants without IPT, participants with IPT had weaker positive schema and stronger negative schema. There was no difference in the level of OGM between those who with and without IPT. Interestingly, additional analysis in participants without IPT showed a marginal positive correlation between positive schema and specificity of positive memory, and a negative correlation between negative schema and specificity of positive memory. Functional avoidance also moderated the relationship between the self and OGM in participants without IPT. The overall results demonstrated the effects of self and cognitive coping styles on OGM in district ways among participants with and without IPT.
Subjects
overgeneral memory
self
schema
ruminative coping style
functional avoidance
interpersonal traumatic event
Type
thesis
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