A sample of 109 undergraduate students completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and self-report measures on absent-mindedness, fantasy proneness, and childhood trauma. As in previous studies, dissociative tendencies were strongly related to absent-mindedness and fantasy proneness. Also, dissociative symptoms were linked to trauma self-reports. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that both the conventional trauma-dissociation model and an alternative dissociation-trauma model provided an adequate fit to our data. Thus, our results demonstrate that cross-sectional and non-clinical studies relying on self-reports of dissociation and trauma should seriously consider the possibility that dissociation, together with its correlates absent-mindedness and fantasy proneness, contribute to trauma self-reports.

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doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00070-8, hdl.handle.net/1765/2853
Personality and Individual Differences
Department of Psychology

Merckelbach, H., Horselenberg, R., & Schmidt, H. (2002). Modeling the connection between self-reported trauma and dissociation in a student sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 32(4), 695–705. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00070-8