PERCEIVED THREAT OF TERRORISM, STRESS APPRAISAL, RESILIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Author: Nighat Yasmeen

Supervisor: Rukhsana Kausar PhD

Degree: MS

Year: 2015-2017

University: Centre for Clinical Psychology, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

The aimed to investigate the moderating effect of Stress
Appraisal, and Resilience on Perceived Threat of Terrorism and
Psychological Distress in College and University Students. It was
hypothesized that there will be a positive relationship between
Perceived Threat of Terrorism and appraisals of threat, centrality,
uncontrollability, stressfulness, psychological distress, negative
relationship between perceived threat of terrorism and appraisal
of challenge, controllability by self, controllability by other and
resilience. Moreover, it was hypothesized that psychological
distress will be predicted by perceived threat of terrorism, stress
appraisal and resilience. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that
relationship between perceived threat of terrorism and
psychological distress will be moderated by stress appraisal and
resilience. The sample of four hundred students (200 men and
200) of age 18-23 years were recruited from different colleges
and universities of lahore, Punab. The research protocole consists
of Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale (Sinclair & Lociero, 2007),
Stess Appraisal Scale ( Peacock & Wong, 1990), The State Traut
Resilience Checklist (Hiew, 2002) and Impact of Event Scale Revised (Horowitz, Wilner & Alvarez, 1979). The findings revealed significant relationships among study variables. The
results showed that threat, centrality, rumination and trait
resilience were significant positive predictor of psychological
distress. Moreover, significant differences were found in
psychological distress on the basis of type of institute students are
attending. Furthermore, significant gender differences were found
in psychological distress in college and university students

Keywords: Stress Appraisal, Resilience, Perceived Threat, Terrorism, Psychological Distress.

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