@article{ref1,
title="Longitudinal relationship between self-efficacy and posttraumatic stress symptoms 8 years after a violent assault: an autoregressive cross-lagged model",
journal="Frontiers in psychology",
year="2017",
author="Nygaard, Egil and Johansen, Venke A. and Siqveland, Johan and Hussain, Ajmal and Heir, Trond",
volume="8",
number="",
pages="e913-e913",
abstract="Self-efficacy is assumed to promote posttraumatic adaption, and several cross-sectional studies support this notion. However, there is a lack of prospective longitudinal studies to further illuminate the temporal relationship between self-efficacy and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Thus, an important unresolved research question is whether posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms affect the level of self-efficacy or vice versa or whether they mutually influence each other. The present prospective longitudinal study investigated the reciprocal relationship between general self-efficacy (GSE) and posttraumatic stress symptoms in 143 physical assault victims. We used an autoregressive cross-lagged model across four assessment waves: within 4 months after the assault (T1) and then 3 months (T2), 12 months (T3) and 8 years (T4) after the first assessment. Stress symptoms at T1 and T2 predicted subsequent self-efficacy, while self-efficacy at T1 and T2 was not related to subsequent stress symptoms. These relationships were reversed after T3; higher levels of self-efficacy at T3 predicted lower levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms at T4, while posttraumatic tress symptoms at T3 did not predict self-efficacy at T4. In conclusion, posttraumatic stress symptoms may have a deteriorating effect on self-efficacy in the early phase after physical assault, whereas self-efficacy may promote recovery from posttraumatic stress symptoms over the long term.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1664-1078",
doi="10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00913",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00913"
}