The Hidden Factors Affecting Academic Performance Among Chinese Middle School Students: Traumatic Experience and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the path from traumatic exposure (TE) to academic performance (AP) is still not explicitly illustrated. The current study aimed to examine the moderator role of PTSD on the relationship between TE and AP, and then to investigate whether this moderator role is influenced by gender. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A sample of Chinese students (n=235) who had experienced the major earthquake of Wenchuan was chosen. PTSD and TE were measured by the Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) and an earthquake-related experience questionnaire, respectively. AP was collected from their up-to-date general examination. Data for 221 participants (53.4% female; mean age=14.03 years, SD=0.824) were finally included in the analysis. Parsimonious latent-variable interaction analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were adopted to examine the moderator role of PTSD. RESULTS: The average IES-R score was 27.57 (SD=13.265, range 0–67). The average score for earthquake exposure was 5.86 (SD=2.069, range 1–12). The results showed that both TE and the interaction term of PTSD*TE had significant negative correlations with AP, while PTSD was not associated with AP. Subsequent hierarchical regression analysis found that the relationship of the interaction term and AP was only significant in female students, and a simple slope plot showed a distinct pattern of the moderating effect of PTSD in both genders. CONCLUSION: This study supported that PTSD moderated the connection between TE and AP in middle school students who had undergone a major earthquake trauma, which was influenced by gender. Students who experienced major trauma with drastic exposure history and manifested PTSD symptoms need specified intervention to avoid further deterioration in performance in school.