A NEW LOOK AT THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE CENTRALITY OF EVENT SCALE

Year 2019, Volume: 18 Issue: 71, 1040 - 1050, 15.07.2019

İlke Sine Egeci , Burak Doğruyol

https://doi.org/10.17755/esosder.432453

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Objective: Centrality
of Event theory suggests that traumatic events are overly integrated into the
memory network as such events become central to the identity, and serve as a
reference and turning point. Berntsen and Rubin (2006, 2007) developed
Centrality of Event Scale in order to assess these features, and gathered
evidence mostly from Western cultures with contradictory findings. However,
centrality of event theory is closely related how the negative event integrated
into the self-concept, and therefore scientific support across different cultures is required as well as
across qualitatively distinct negative events. The current study
investigated the psychometric properties of the scale for Turkish culture with
a confirmatory factor analytic approach to compare validity of various factor structures,
on distinct negative event histories to cross-validate the factor structure
across distinct samples. Method: A
sample of 340 undergraduate students completed Turkish versions of Centrality
of Event Scale, Posttraumatic Stress Checklist-Civilian version, and Beck
Depression Inventory. Results: Confirmatory
factory analyses and measurement invariance tests revealed that the short
version of CES with a single factor solution is a valid measure sample from
Turkish culture and samples with distinct negative event histories. Conclusion: The results revealed that
the short form of the scale to be a reliable and valid instrument for Turkish
culture.

Keywords

Centrality of Event Scale, Turkish adaptation, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance

OLAYLARIN MERKEZİYETİ ÖLÇEĞİNİN FAKTÖR YAPISINA YENİ BİR BAKIŞ

Abstract

Objective:
Centrality of Event theory suggests that traumatic events are overly integrated
into the memory network as such events become central to the identity, and
serve as a reference and turning point. Berntsen and Rubin (2006, 2007)
developed Centrality of Event Scale in order to assess these features, and
gathered evidence mostly from Western cultures with contradictory findings.
However, centrality of event theory is closely related how the negative event integrated
into the self-concept, and therefore scientific support across different cultures is required as well as
across qualitatively distinct negative events. The current study
investigated the psychometric properties of the scale for Turkish culture with
a confirmatory factor analytic approach to compare validity of various factor
structures, on distinct negative event histories to cross-validate the factor
structure across distinct samples. Method:
A sample of 340 undergraduate students completed Turkish versions of Centrality
of Event Scale, Posttraumatic Stress Checklist-Civilian version, and Beck
Depression Inventory. Results: Confirmatory
factory analyses and measurement invariance tests revealed that the short
version of CES with a single factor solution is a valid measure sample from
Turkish culture and samples with distinct negative event histories. Conclusion: The results revealed that
the short form of the scale to be a reliable and valid instrument for Turkish
culture.

Keywords

Centrality of Event Scale, Turkish adaptation, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Measurement Invariance

References

• American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed. Text Revision). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
• American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed. Text Revision). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
• Beck, A.T., Ward, C.H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561-571.
• Bernard, J.D., Whittles, R.L., Kertz, S.J., & Burke, P.A. (2015). Trauma and event centrality: Valence and incorporation into identity influnce well-being more than exposure. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 7(1), 11-17. doi: 10.1037/a0037331.
• Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2006). Centrality of event scale. A measure of integrating a trauma into one’s identity and its relation to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 219–231. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.01.009.
• Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2007). When a trauma becomes a key to identity: Enhanced integration of trauma memories predicts posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(4), 417-431. doi:10.1002/acp.1290.
• Berntsen, D. & Rubin, D.C. (2008). The Reappearance Hypothesis Revisited: Recurrent Involuntary Memories after Traumatic Events and in Everyday Life. Memory and Cognition, 36(2), 449-460. doi: 10.3758/MC.36.2.449.
• Berntsen, D., Rubin, D. C., & Siegler, I. C. (2011). Two versions of life: emotionally negative and positive life events have different roles in the organization of life story and identity. Emotion, 11(5), 1190. doi: 10.1037/a0024940.
• Berntsen, D., Willert, M., & Rubin, D. C. (2003). Splintered memories or vivid landmarks? Qualities and organization of traumatic memories with and without PTSD. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17(6), 675-693.doi: 10.1002/acp.894.
• Boals, A. (2010). Events that have become central to identity: Gender differences in the centrality of event scale for positive and negative events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 107–121. doi:10.1002/acp.1548.
• Boals, A., Hayslip,B. Jr., Knowles, L.R., & Banks, J.B. (2012). Perceiving a negative event as central to one’s identity partially mediates age differences in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Journal of Aging and Health, 24(3), 459-474.
• Boals, A. & Murrell, A.R. (2016). I am >Trauma: Experimentally reducing event centrality and PTSD symptoms in a clinical trial. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 21(6), 471-483. doi: 10.1080/15325024.2015.1117930.
• Brown, T. A. (2105). Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research. New York: Guilford Press.
• Fernández-Alcántara, M., de los Santos-Roig, M., Pérez-Marfil, M.N., Catena-Martínez, A., Pérez-García, C., Martí-García, C., & Cruz-Quintana, F. Adaptation of Centrality of Event Scale (CES) to Spanish. Universitas Psychologica, 14 (2), 499-509. doi:10.11144/Javeriana.upsy14-2.acce.
• Fitzgerald,J.M., Berntsen, D., & Broadbridge, C.L. (2016). The influence of event centrality in memory models of PTSD. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30, 10-21.
• Gauer, G., Souza, J. Á. D., Silveira, A. M. D., & Sediyama, C. Y. N. (2013). Stressful events in autobiographical memory processing: Brazilian version of the centrality of event scale. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 26(1), 98-105.
• Groleau, J.M., Calhoun, L.G., Cann, A., & Tedeschki, R.G. (2013). The role of centrality of events in posttraumatic distress and posttraumatic growth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 5(5), 477-483. doi: 10.1037/a0028809.
• Hisli N. (1989). Beck depresyon envanterinin üniversite öğrencileri için geçerliği ve güvenirliği (Reliability and validity of Beck Depression Inventory for undergraduate students). Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(23), 3-13.
• Janoff-Bulman, R. (1988). Assumptive worlds and the stress of traumatic events: applications of the schema construct. Social Cognition, 7, 113–136. doi: 10.1521/soco.1989.7.2.113.
• Jöroskog, K. G. & Sörbom, D. (1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the simplis command language. Lincolnwood: Scientific Software International, Inc.
• Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York: Guilford Publication.
• Kocabaşoğlu N, Çorapçıoğlu Özdemir A, Yargıç İ, Geyran P. (2005). Türkçe “PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version” (PCL-C) Ölçeğinin geçerlilik ve güvenilirliği (Validity and reliability of Turkish PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version’. Yeni Symposium,43, 126-134.
• Robinaugh, D.J. & McNally, R. (2011). Trauma centrality and PTSD symptom severity in adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24 (4), 483-486. doi:10.1002/jts.20656.
• Rubin, D. C., Dennis, M. F., & Beckham, J. C. (2011). Autobiographical memory for stressful events: The role of autobiographical memory in posttraumatic stress disorder. Consciousness and Cognition, 20(3), 840-856. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.03.015.
• Rubin, D.C., Boals, A., & Berntsen, D. (2008). Memory in posttraumatic stress disorder: Properties of voluntary and involuntary, traumatic and nontraumatic autobiographical memories in people with and without posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137(4), 591-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0013165.
• Rubin, D.C. & Feeling, N. (2013). Measuring the severity of negative and traumatic events. Clinical Psychological Science, 1 (4), 375-389.
• Thorne, A. & McLean, K.C. (2001). Manual for coding meaning-making in self-defining memories. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Santa Cruz.
• Vagos, P., Riberiro da Silva, D., Brazao, N., & Rijo, D. (2016). The centrality of events scale in Portuguese adolescents: Validity evidence based on internal structure and on relations to other variables. Assessment, 1-12. doi: 10.1177/1073191116651137.
• Vandenberg, R.J. & Lance, C.E. (2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for the organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3(1), 4-69. doi: 10.1177/109442810031002.
• Wamser-Nanney, R. Howell, K.H., Schwartz, L.E., & Hasselle, A. J. (2017). The moderating role of trauma type on the relationship between centrality of the traumatic experience and mental health. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, doi: 10.1037/tra0000344.
• Weathers, F.W., Litz, B.T., Huska, J.A., & Keane, T.M. (1994). The PTSD checklist (PCL). Unpublished scale available from the National Center for PTSD.