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The improvement of post-traumatic cognitive attribution scale: its relationship with loneliness and depression

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Summary

The purpose of this study is to develop a measurement tool that evaluates post-traumatic non-adaptive cognitive attributions. The study was conducted on a total of 1220 university students with trauma experience, 877 of these were women and 343 were men. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, criterion validity, and some reliability analyses were carried out in this study. According to the findings obtained from the study, a three-dimensional scale with an explained variance of 54.95% was attained. The dimensions of the scale were entitled “Perceived Loss of Control”, “Impaired Perception of Continuity” and “Self-Blame”. Additionally, the intermediary role of loneliness in the relationship between post-traumatic cognitive attribution and depression was tested. Post-traumatic cognitive attribution was found to be related to loneliness and depression. The results of the research show that the post-traumatic cognitive attribution scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool.

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The data used in this article are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Correspondence to Azmi Caglar.

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Ethical statement

All procedures followed in accordance with the ethical standards of theresponsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975,as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study. Also, Research eligibility approval was obtained from the Yıldız Technical University Social and Human Sciences Research Ethics Committee.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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This study was produced from the first author’s doctoral thesis under the supervision of the second author.

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Caglar, A., Deniz, M.E. The improvement of post-traumatic cognitive attribution scale: its relationship with loneliness and depression. Curr Psychol 43, 5451–5461 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04748-1

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