Lecturer and Post-Doctorate Research Fellow University of Bath Bath, England, United Kingdom
Adolescence is a critical developmental period during which exposure to trauma substantially increases vulnerability to mental health difficulties, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Adolescents living in township communities in South Africa, such as Khayelitsha, experience exceptionally high levels of violence, maltreatment, and adversity, resulting in PTSD prevalence rates far exceeding global estimates. PTSD is associated with significant emotional, cognitive, and social impairment, as well as elevated risk of self-harm, depression, and suicide. Cognitive models of PTSD emphasise the role of negative self-evaluation and pessimistic future-oriented beliefs in the development and maintenance of symptoms; however, existing research has relied largely on standardised questionnaires and has not examined self-evaluation from adolescents’ own perspectives, particularly in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts. The proposed study aimed to characterise current and future self-evaluation in trauma-exposed adolescents living in Khayelitsha using open-ended measures. The study had three objectives: (1) to identify elements of current and future self-evaluation associated with trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms; (2) to develop a freely accessible database of self- and future-self descriptors generated by adolescents; and (3) to examine whether negative self- and future-oriented beliefs are associated with PTSD symptom severity. Adolescents completed the Twenty Statements Test (“I am…”) to assess current self-evaluation and the ‘I Will Be’ Task was used to examine future-oriented self-perceptions. PTSD symptoms and trauma exposure were also assessed. This approach allows for a nuanced and idiographic examination of self-evaluation beyond predefined questionnaire items. Findings are expected to advance theoretical understanding of PTSD by clarifying the content of self-evaluations implicated in adolescent trauma responses, inform assessment and intervention strategies, and provide methodologically valuable, culturally relevant self-evaluation norms for trauma-exposed youth in LMIC settings.
Learning Objectives:
Describe how adolescents exposed to trauma conceptualize self-evaluation and apply adolescent-generated descriptors in their research, using freely available resources.
