Exploring the relationship between trauma and dichotomous thinking
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2025-05
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between dichotomous thinking and exposure to traumatic life events. This quantitative, cross-sectional correlational study hypothesized that there are positive correlations between: 1) traumatic event exposure frequency and degrees of dichotomous thinking, 2) severity of events and degrees of dichotomous thinking, 3) posttraumatic stress symptoms and degrees of dichotomous thinking, and hypothesized that 4) those who experienced their first traumatic event before age 20 will have greater degrees of dichotomous thinking than those who were exposed after the age of 20. Nine hundred eighty-one University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa students completed a demographics page, the Dichotomous Thinking Inventory, the Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire Short Form-9, the Trauma History Questionnaire, and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-5. Results showed that posttraumatic stress symptoms were significantly correlated with degrees of dichotomous thinking. Frequency of event exposure, severity of events, and age at/during event exposure were not significantly associated with degrees of dichotomous thinking. This signifies that it is essential to consider how people respond to traumatic event exposure when discussing psychological flexibility. Despite the associations found in literature between experiencing trauma and cognitive distortions, there are possibly other interactions involved between the maintenance of black-and-white cognition in a trauma-exposed sample. Further research should examine covariates and potential moderators, such as resilience, coping styles, and social support, to clarify the impact of these variables on dichotomous thinking styles. Limitations of the study include the use of categorical free-response answers in participant responses to specific event frequencies and a small sample size of participants older than 20.
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Psychology, Cognitive psychology, Therapy, Black-and-White Thinking, Cognitive Distortions, Dichotomous Thinking, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma
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71 pages
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