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Open Paper

Child and adolescent mental health

Youth Resilience and Adjustment: Trauma, Identity, Stress, and Skills-Based Interventions

2 - (OP20) Moderators of Single and Pattern of Dysfunctional Posttraumatic Cognitions in Children and Adolescents

Friday, June 26, 2026
4:22 PM - 4:39 PM PDT
Location: Yerba Buena Salon 12, B3 Level
Keywords: Cognitive Schemas / Beliefs, Trauma,
Recommended Readings: Gómez de La Cuesta, G., Schweizer, S., Diehle, J., Young, J., & Meiser-Stedman, R. (2019). The relationship between maladaptive appraisals and posttraumatic stress disorder: a meta-analysis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 10(1), 1620084-1620084. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1620084,   Ehlers, A., & Clark, D. M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38(4), 319-345. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00123-0,   Robinaugh, D. J., Hotchkin, C. M., Wright, S., & de Ron, J. (2025). Network psychometrics and the network approach to posttraumatic stress disorder: A conceptual and methodological overview. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 38(3), 363-375. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23135,   ,  

    Author(s)

  • Anke de Haan, Ph.D.

    Postdoc
    Ruhr University Bochum, Mental Health Research and Treatment Center (FBZ), Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Bochum, Germany
    Bochum, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

A key mechanism to explain differences in trauma response are subjective appraisals of the potentially traumatic event and its consequences. Dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) have consistently been found to be highly correlated with trauma-related psychopathology and to serve as mediators of treatment-change. Although the role of dysfunctional PTCs has been internationally established in school-aged children and adolescents, developmental considerations need to be addressed. However, little is known about group differences in dysfunctional PTCs, especially related to the endorsement of single dysfunctional PTCs or pattern of dysfunctional PTCs. The aim of this presentation is to explore age, sex, and trauma type as potential moderators of dysfunctional PTCs in form of total score, subscales, single PTCs, and pattern of PTCs.
We compiled a large international data set, called CPTCI international data, consisting of 2313 children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years (M=12.49, SD=2.6) exposed to interpersonal trauma, war trauma, accidental trauma, or natural disaster. The overall sample was evenly split between male and female participants. All of them provided information on the Child Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (CPTCI) which included two subscales called "permanent and disturbing change" (CPTCI-PC) and "fragile person in a scary world" (CPTCI-SW). The 10 items of the short form of the CPTCI (CPTCI-S) were used for analysis. A moderated network analysis was conducted to simultaneously explore categorical and continuous moderators.
Single dysfunctional PTCs were positively associated with each other. Interpersonal trauma, compared to accidental trauma, was associated with higher scores in dysfunctional PTCs related to the subscale “fragile person in a scary world”. Age, sex, and trauma type did not moderate the associations among dysfunctional PTCs.
Looking at differences based on age, sex, and trauma type in single and pattern of dysfunctional PTCs broadens our understanding of dysfunctional PTCs in children and adolescents. Implications for future research and clinical practice will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the role of moderators in single and pattern of dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions in children and adolescents.