The relationship between trauma and personality in victims of the Boeing 737-2D6C crash in Coventry

The aims of this paper were to (a) ascertain the extent of psychological di stress and (b) identify the association between personality variables and p sychological distress among individuals who had been exposed to an aircraft disaster in Coventry. U.K. Hundreds of people escaped death but were expos ed to the impact of the disaster when a Boeing 737-2D6C 7T-VEE crashed into a woodland area on the edge of a large housing estate in Coventry, U.K. in 1994. Eighty-two residents were randomly chosen for interviews in which th ey were assessed using the Impact of Event Scale, the General Health Questi onnaire, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-R Short Scale(EPQ-R). Th e results showed that the Coventry residents' scores reached similar levels of intrusion and avoidance compared with standardized samples and the Lock erbie samples. Fifty-two percent reached the GHQ case level score, which wa s again similar to the Lockerbie residents. The Coventry residents were sig nificantly less extroverted and neurotic than standardized samples. Stepwis e multiple regression showed that there were associations between intrusion and neuroticism and intrusion and extroversion. as well as between avoidan ce and neuroticism. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.