Perceived Injustice After Spinal Cord Injury: Evidence for a Distinct Psychological Construct

• Activity Number: 80 - Contributed Poster Presentations: Mental Health Statistics Section
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 3, 2020 : 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
• Sponsor: Mental Health Statistics Section
• Author(s): Jessica Ketchum* and Kimberly Monden
• Companies: Craig Hospital and Craig Hospital
• Keywords: multivariate; spinal cord injury; perceived injustice; depression

Abstract

Perceived injustice and depression are common following a traumatic event, such as spinal cord injury (SCI), and can affect the recovery trajectory following injury. Given the consistent correlation reported between these two constructs, it is possible that perceived injustice is simply a proxy for depression; this is unlikely, however, as recent findings show as little as 20% shared variance. The purpose of our study was to determine which particular predictors are uniquely associated with perceived injustice compared with depression symptoms within the first year after SCI. Using a novel application of a multivariate model, we identified three predictors (time since injury, state anger, and sex) each having unique relationships with perceived injustice and depression symptoms. Our presentation will demonstrate the methodology used to identify unique predictors of these two constructs using a single multivariate model, discuss issues encountered and working solutions, and describe interpretation of the results.