Modeling the connection between self-reported trauma and dissociation in a student sample

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Abstract

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.

Section snippets

Participants

There is no consensus about the minimum satisfactory sample size that is required for conducting structural equation modeling (Schumacker & Lomax, 1996). Indeed, some authors (e.g. Lawrence et al., 1995) relied on sample sizes of less than 100, while other authors recommended sample sizes of 400 or more (Boomsma, 1982). In the absence of clear rules, we set our sample size on 30 participants per variable (see later). Of the 120 participants tested, 11 had missing values leaving 109 students (26

Results

Table 1 shows descriptive statistics of the measures. Mean scores on dissociation (DES), absent-mindedness (CFQ), and fantasy proneness (CEQ) are in close agreement with results obtained in previous non-clinical studies (e.g. Van Ijzendoorn and Schuengel, 1996, Broadbent et al., 1982, Merckelbach et al., 2001, respectively). As to the mean score on the trauma scale (CTQ), direct comparisons are difficult because normative scores for the Short Form of the CTQ have not yet been reported in

Discussion

The results of the present study can be summarized as follows. To begin with, the current study replicates previous findings (e.g. Merckelbach et al., 1999, Merckelbach et al., 2000, Merckelbach et al., 2000, Merckelbach et al., 2000, Rauschenberg and Lynn, 1995, Silva and Kirsch, 1992) in that robust correlations were found between dissociative tendencies as measured by DES and absent-mindedness and fantasy-proneness as indexed by CFQ and CEQ, respectively. Secondly, like previous non-clinical

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