Perceived Resistance to Experiences of Trauma and Crisis: A Study Comparing Multiple Life Events

Subjective perception is considered a key element in the prediction of resistant or vulnerable responses to trauma and crisis. This study aimed to assess the relationship between perceived physical life threat and perceived life impact with posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology in a sample of 3.565 persons from 12 countries across 9 different traumatic events. Participants were classified into 4 groups of self-perceived resistance based on their levels of perceived physical life threat and perceived life impact. Main results show that Nonaffected was the most frequent category in natural catastrophes (48.9%), migration (45.9%), motor vehicle accidents (39.83%), and death threats (33.4%). In the case of sexual abuse by a relative or close person (44.5%), sexual abuse by a stranger (33.9%), and having a severe, chronic, or disabling illness (47.3%), the most frequent category was Survivor. For domestic violence, the most frequent category was Vulnerable (45.5%). Resistant was never the most frequent category for any of the events studied. Although gender and lower education predicted posttraumatic stress disorder in most events of trauma and crisis, they were a weak predictor of vulnerable versus resistance categories. These results suggest that the perceived resistance indicator can provide insights into the narratives of resistance or vulnerability associated with extreme experiences.