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Reading Score by PCL-5 Score Cutoff
Experiment Screen
Trigger warnings affect reading comprehension in
students reporting trauma histories
Madeline J. Bruce, BA, Saint Louis University Department of Clinical Psychology, St. Louis, MO, & Dawn Roberts, PhD,
Bradley University Department of Psychology, Peoria, IL
Contact
1. Boyson, G. A. (2017). Evidence-Based Answers to Questions About Trigger Warnings for Clinically-Based Distress: A Review for Teachers
2. Wilson, R. (2015). Students’ requests for trigger warnings grow more varied.
3. Carlson et al. (2005). The Trauma History Screen.
4. Weathers et al (2013). The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5).
References
Madeline Bruce
madeline.bruce@slu.edu
Research Assistant: Violence and Traumatic Stress Lab at Saint Louis University
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Madeline_Bruce
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
PCL 5 equal or over 33 PCL 5 below 33
Reading score out of 5 points
TW no TW
Introduction
•
Trigger warnings (TWs) are alerts before media
warning people reporting trauma histories and
subsequent stress that upcoming themes may serve
as a trauma reminder.
•
Some undergraduates are requesting TWs be
deployed in classes, stirring questions of disability
rights and if TWs are working as discriminative
stimuli.
•TWs may prime students with posttraumatic stress
to be hypervigilant for threat, preventing them
from reading for comprehension.
•
Hypothesis: Students scoring high on the PCL-5
would perform worse than peers on a reading
comprehension test when the reading material had
a TW.
Methods and Materials
•
Participants (N= 113 undergraduates,
Mage(SD) = 19.2(1.2)) were asked to select a
National Public Radio article from a list of 4
similar titles about The State of Michigan vs.
Lawrence Nassar case.
•
Two titles had arbitrary, random TWs.
•
Participants were lead to the same article and
answered the same comprehension questions
regardless of selection.
•
Participants completed Trauma History Screen
(Carlson, 2005) and Posttraumatic Check List-5
(Weathers et al., 2013).
•
The comprehension test was developed for this
article by seasoned teachers.
Demographics
Sex Female 79.6%
Male 20.4%
Gender Cisgender 85.8%
Did not report 8.9%
Outside binary 5.3%
Race White 75.2%
Black 8.0%
Multiple 8.0%
Asian 4.4%
Latinx 4.4%
Results
•
Students who hit clinical cut off scores who picked
the TW scored significantly worse than comparison
peers who also picked TWs (p = .043).
•
There was no significant preference for TW-labeled
articles vs. unlabeled articles (p = .94).
Discussion
•
TWs seem to be a cue to pay attention for trauma-
related material.
•
Pulling from Yerkes-Dodson law, the resulting
arousal may help those without posttraumatic stress,
but leave people with these histories so vigilant for
threat that they don’t digest the material.
•
This runs counter to the aims of an academic
accommodation.
