Spinal cord injury, posttraumatic stress, and locus of control among the elderly: a comparison with young and middle-aged patients.

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which spinal cord injury posttraumatic stress (SCI PTSD) responses and the use of the external or internal health locus of control might vary according to age. Sixty-two patients with SCI were recruited for the study and divided into young (n = 23), middle-aged (n = 25) and elderly (n = 14) groups. They were assessed using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL), the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC). The results showed no significant differences between the three age groups in terms of PTSD symptoms. The elderly patients were significantly more socially dysfunctional than the other patients. The young patients believed in chance locus of control (CHLC) significantly more than the middle-aged and elderly patients. Correlation results revealed no significant relationship between PTSD symptoms and type of locus of control for the middle-aged patients. Otherwise, for both the young and elderly patients, internal health locus of control (IHLC) was negatively correlated with the avoidance symptom. For the elderly patients, powerful other locus of control (POLC) was positively correlated with the avoidance symptom. Both young and middle-aged patients revealed significant positive correlations between POLC, CHLC, and general health problems. For the elderly patients, POLC was positively correlated with social dysfunction and depression. SCI-PTSD responses did not differ according to age; however, the use of health locus of control differed depending on whether patients were younger or older.