Evaluating a community fire as human-made vs. natural disaster moderates the relationship between peritraumatic distress and both PTSD symptoms and posttraumatic growth

Objective: This study examined whether attributing a cause of a community fire to a human-made vs. natural disaster moderated the association between peritraumatic distress (PD) and posttraumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms, as well as between PD and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Method: Participants lived in Israeli communities affected by wide-scale fires in November 2016. At Time 1 (within one month of the fires), 390 participants completed measures. At Time 2 (four months after the fires), 223 of the original participants completed follow-up-questionnaires. Participants reported their PD symptoms at Time 1, and their beliefs regarding the cause of the fire, PTSD symptoms, and PTG at Time 2. Results: Higher levels of PD at Time 1 were associated with higher levels of both PTSD symptoms and PTG at Time 2. Participants who believed that the fires were more of a human-made than natural disaster had stronger associations between PD and PTSD symptoms, and stronger associations between PD and PTG. Conclusions: Attributions regarding the cause of a disaster may be related to both PTSD symptoms as well as PTG. Balanced and responsible public announcements regarding the causes of traumatic events may reduce the deleterious effects in the aftermath of a traumatic event.