trauma history refers to an individual 's total range of experiences of possibly distressing events during a defined period of time , either a lifetime or a shorter period . in accordance with the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , 4th edition ( dsm - iv ) ptsd a1a2 criteria ( american psychiatric association , 2000 ) , events are classified into two categories : potentially traumatic events ( ptes ) and traumatic events ( tes ) ( corcoran , green , goodman & krinsley , 2000 ; norris & hamblen , 2004 ; weathers & keane , 2008 ) . the focus in the pte category is on whether a person has been exposed to an event of a possibly distressing nature , corresponding to criterion a1 ( such as natural disasters , motor vehicle accidents , war , etc . ) . the te category ( criterion a2 ) indicates whether an individual felt severe distress ( fear , helplessness , or horror ) because of the exposure . ptsd is a severe anxiety disorder caused by experiencing or witnessing a subjectively distressing event ( american psychiatric association , 2000 ) . the disorder is diagnosed on the basis of symptoms such as reexperiencing the trauma , hyperarousal , and avoidance . as pointed out by vogt , king d. w. , and king l. a. ( 2007 ) , weathers and keane ( 2007 ) , and other researchers , only a minority of those exposed to a distressing event will develop full - blown ptsd . comorbidity studies of trauma - related distress symptoms have shown that depression is the most frequently coexisting disorder with ptsd ( e.g. , breslau , 2009 ; breslau , davis , peterson & schultz , 2000 ; keane , brief , pratt & miller , 2007 ; kessler , 1997 ; ragheb & zimmerman , 2008 ) . however , the comorbidity issue in relation to psychological trauma is complex as the inclusion criteria and the chronology of disorders need to be taken into account . for instance , while , by definition , ptsd is caused by a distressing event , depression does not have a similar  external  criterion ( american psychiatric association , 2000 ) . in addition , symptoms of depression may have been present before the distressing event occurred , and this may have enhanced the risk for developing ptsd . in trauma studies , the chronology of included disorders has mainly been studied as relationships between main effects measured at several time points after the pte had occurred ( breslau , 2009 ; breslau et al . , 2000 ; erickson , wolfe , king d. w. , king l. a. & sharkansky , 2001 ; ginzburg , ein - dor & solomon , 2010 ) . following the aforementioned logic of possible patterns of comorbidity and chronology , studies investigating the mediating role of trauma - related disorders have been designed in various ways depending on the study theme . for instance , the level of ptsd symptoms has been analyzed as a predictor in relation to several combinations of mediators and outcome variables , sometimes including depression as a subsequent disorder ( subica , claypoole & wylie , 2011 ) . depression has been studied in parallel with ptsd as a central post - trauma intervening factor , mediating a relationship between a trauma history factor and another identified mental illness or trauma - related behavior ( see for example dedert et al . , 2010 , or nelson et al . , 2011 ) ptsd has also been studied as an outcome factor in relation to previous trauma history and a chosen intervening variable . to the authors knowledge , however , depression as an intervening variable between trauma history and ptsd has received no scholarly attention . scholars providing overviews of studies on trauma - related symptoms in news journalists point out that only a limited number of studies have been published on the topic . among these studies , sample sizes and the inclusion criteria have varied , and in some cases , they have been insufficiently reported , which in turn affects the comparability of results ( newman , shapiro & nelson , 2009 ; simpson & cot , 2006 ; smith & newman , 2009 ) . traumatic reactions caused by one identified assignment , as well as current trauma symptoms in relation to trauma history , have been investigated . in regard to the latter , trauma history has been defined either as work - related trauma exposure , as private life experiences , or , in some cases , combining both trauma contexts ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ; pyevich , newman & daleiden , 2003 ; simpson & boggs , 1999 ; weidmann & papsdorf , 2010 ) . current studies indicate that 86100% of daily newsgatherers have been exposed to events at work that should be regarded as possibly traumatic ( smith , 2008 ; smith & newman , 2009 ) . studies on the relationship between work trauma history and psychological distress have shown varying results . some ( newman et al . , 2003 ; pyevich et al . , 2003 ; simpson & boggs , 1999 ) have reported that the number of experienced work - related crises were connected to ptsd symptoms , whereas others ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ; dworznik , 2008 ; smith , 2008 ) have not found connections . the latter studies have reported that the characteristics of each specific work - related crisis is of importance rather than the number of such crises experienced . some studies have shown that having worked with an event that included a large range of distressing characteristics was related to severe current distress symptoms . distressing characteristics can consist of witnessing someone being killed , knowing the victims , and/or oneself being directly attacked while working on the assignment ( pyevich , 2001 ) . studies of journalists , including private life trauma history as well , have usually found a relationship between exposure to a larger range of personal traumas and elevated levels of symptoms ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ; newman et al . , 2003 ; pyevich et al . , 2003 ) . the vast majority of studies of news workers trauma - related experiences include measures of ptsd ( smith & newman , 2009 ) . depending on the type of journalism , sample size , and situational factors in different studies , the proportion of cases with ptsd have varied . in their overview of studies , smith and newman ( 2009 ) estimated that possible ptsd in journalists varied from 4 to 29% . for instance , dworznik ( 2008 ) reported that in a group of american domestic news journalists , 7% of respondents fulfilled the diagnosis criteria , whereas hatanaka et al . ( 2010 ) noted that 6% of japanese news reporters with similar work descriptions had full - blown ptsd at the time of the survey . war correspondents have been shown to be at a higher risk ; feinstein , owen , and blair ( 2002 ) reported that 29% suffered from ptsd at some point in their career . trauma - induced depression also has been studied in only a few journalist samples ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ; feinstein et al . , 2002 ; mcmahon , 2001 ; weidmann , fehm & fydrich , 2008 ) . among these , the study design has varied . some scholars have investigated the link between trauma - related assignment / trauma history and depression as well as the ptsd - depression comorbidity , while others have focused on one topic only . backholm and bjrkqvist ( 2010 ) , in a general sample of finnish domestic news journalists , and weidmann et al . ( 2008 ) , studying european reporters working with the 2004 asian tsunami disaster , found few or no direct relationships between the range of work - related traumatic exposure and changes in depressive symptoms . mcmahon ( 2001 ) reported that among australian journalists with a work history that included at least one crisis assignment , 43% experienced significant , long - term depression , which they attributed to potentially traumatic exposure . in regard to comorbidity between ptsd and depression , results have usually shown that more severe ptsd symptoms are correlated with more symptoms of depression ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ; feinstein et al . , 2002 ; weidmann et al . , however , to the best of the authors knowledge , studies with journalist samples have not investigated the underlying relationships between ptsd and depression in detail . in this study , the complex relationship between trauma history and trauma - related symptoms in news journalists is investigated . the aim of the study is to investigate whether possible direct relationships between work - related or personal trauma history and posttraumatic symptoms may be mediated by symptoms of depression . in total , 407 finnish news journalists who had experienced one or several crisis - related work assignments during their career ( including work on the location of the crisis , in the newsroom , or regional work in another , non - affected , part of the country ) participated in the study . the sample was extracted from a larger sample of journalists . the choice to exclude journalists with no experience of crisis assignments was made to ensure a strictly defined sample of participants with a relevant work description . journalists in the sample had a mean age of 43 years ( sd = 11.1 ) . participant data was collected via a web - based survey on the topic of trauma history and current psychological distress within the profession and sent out to finnish news journalists in the spring of 2008 ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ) . the total sample of the present study consisted of 178 males ( 44% ) and 229 females ( 56% ) . the main media affiliation of the journalists was as follows : newspapers , n=232 ( 57% of the sample ) , television , n=74 ( 18% ) , radio , n=73 ( 18% ) , and other types of media , n=28 ( 7% ) . work - related exposure to potentially traumatic assignments ( ptas ) was measured with the journalist trauma exposure scale ( jtes ) ( newman et al . , 2003 ; pyevich , 2001 ) . in the jtes , 14 items measure the range of ptas during the past 12 months , while a further nine items focus on the intensity of possible work exposure . in the collection of data , the authors wanted to distinguish between exposure to ptas at the scene of the crisis and work tasks carried out in the newsroom or somewhere else . accordingly , participants were asked to indicate whether they had experienced any of the above mentioned types of exposure on the location , indirectly , or both . for this study , only at - the - scene data for the 14-item pta subscale was used in the analyses , and a summed score of provided yes / no - answers was derived . since scales measuring trauma history ( e.g. , jtes ) reflect exposure to various types of events rather than a unified underlying construct , reliability assessment for the trauma history scales is not meaningful and therefore is not presented . to measure trauma history in personal life , the traumatic life events questionnaire ( tleq ) ( kubany et al . , 2000 ) the tleq consists of 23 items measuring the range of lifetime trauma history , corresponding to the dsm - iv ptsd a1 ( ptes ) and a2 ( tes ) criteria ( american psychiatric association , 2000 ) . in this study , a total of 18 trauma history items were used , 17 from the original tleq and one item added reflecting exposure to bullying . the item was added because of previous research showing that exposure to bullying is related to symptoms of ptsd ( bjrkqvist , 2001 ) . the wording of items was modified somewhat to reduce length , and only data from the pte subscale was used in this study . answers for each item were provided as yes / no alternatives , and as in the case of the jtes , a summed score was derived . for measuring symptoms of ptsd , the ptsd checklist , civilian version ( pcl - c ) ( national center for ptsd , 2010 ; weathers , litz , herman , huska & keane , 1993 ) was used . the pcl - c consists of 17 items with response choices arranged on a five - point likert scale , ranging from  not at all  to  extremely  . the wording of the pcl - c in the study was modified to refer to past traumatic exposure in general . moreover , a total summed score of items was used in the statistical analyses . in the study , the pcl - c had excellent internal consistency , with a reliability of =.91 . for symptoms of depression , the short version of the beck depression inventory ( bdi-13 ) ( beck a. t. & beck r. w. , 1972 ) was used . in the bdi-13 , participants respond by choosing one out of four given alternatives per item . a summed score for the 13 items was used in the analysis . in this study , in total , 407 finnish news journalists who had experienced one or several crisis - related work assignments during their career ( including work on the location of the crisis , in the newsroom , or regional work in another , non - affected , part of the country ) participated in the study . the sample was extracted from a larger sample of journalists . the choice to exclude journalists with no experience of crisis assignments was made to ensure a strictly defined sample of participants with a relevant work description . journalists in the sample had a mean age of 43 years ( sd = 11.1 ) . participant data was collected via a web - based survey on the topic of trauma history and current psychological distress within the profession and sent out to finnish news journalists in the spring of 2008 ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ) . the total sample of the present study consisted of 178 males ( 44% ) and 229 females ( 56% ) . the main media affiliation of the journalists was as follows : newspapers , n=232 ( 57% of the sample ) , television , n=74 ( 18% ) , radio , n=73 ( 18% ) , and other types of media , n=28 ( 7% ) . work - related exposure to potentially traumatic assignments ( ptas ) was measured with the journalist trauma exposure scale ( jtes ) ( newman et al . , 2003 ; pyevich , 2001 ) . in the jtes , 14 items measure the range of ptas during the past 12 months , while a further nine items focus on the intensity of possible work exposure . in the collection of data , the authors wanted to distinguish between exposure to ptas at the scene of the crisis and work tasks carried out in the newsroom or somewhere else . accordingly , participants were asked to indicate whether they had experienced any of the above mentioned types of exposure on the location , indirectly , or both . for this study , only at - the - scene data for the 14-item pta subscale was used in the analyses , and a summed score of provided yes / no - answers was derived . since scales measuring trauma history ( e.g. , jtes ) reflect exposure to various types of events rather than a unified underlying construct , reliability assessment for the trauma history scales is not meaningful and therefore is not presented . to measure trauma history in personal life , the traumatic life events questionnaire ( tleq ) ( kubany et al . , 2000 ) the tleq consists of 23 items measuring the range of lifetime trauma history , corresponding to the dsm - iv ptsd a1 ( ptes ) and a2 ( tes ) criteria ( american psychiatric association , 2000 ) . in this study , a total of 18 trauma history items were used , 17 from the original tleq and one item added reflecting exposure to bullying . the item was added because of previous research showing that exposure to bullying is related to symptoms of ptsd ( bjrkqvist , 2001 ) . the wording of items was modified somewhat to reduce length , and only data from the pte subscale was used in this study . answers for each item were provided as yes / no alternatives , and as in the case of the jtes , a summed score was derived . for measuring symptoms of ptsd , the ptsd checklist , civilian version ( pcl - c ) ( national center for ptsd , 2010 ; weathers , litz , herman , huska & keane , 1993 ) was used . the pcl - c consists of 17 items with response choices arranged on a five - point likert scale , ranging from  not at all  to  extremely  . the wording of the pcl - c in the study was modified to refer to past traumatic exposure in general . moreover , a total summed score of items was used in the statistical analyses . in the study , the pcl - c had excellent internal consistency , with a reliability of =.91 . for symptoms of depression , the short version of the beck depression inventory ( bdi-13 ) ( beck a. t. & beck r. w. , 1972 ) was used . in the bdi-13 , participants respond by choosing one out of four given alternatives per item . a summed score for the 13 items was used in the analysis . in this study , differences between males and females were found on most factors ( table 1 ) . males reported a history of significantly more pta as well as pte exposure , whereas females had higher ptsd scores . summary of sex differences in ptas , ptes , ptsd , and depression journalists could indicate a maximum range of 14 pta types exposed to at the location of the event . among participants ( n=357 ) , 196 ( 55% ) had worked with at least one such event during the past year . as a group , the journalists reported having worked with a mean of 1.71 different types of events ( sd = 2.41 , range 012 ) during the past year . most frequent types of ptas in the past year participants ( n=407 ) indicated the types of ptes they have experienced from a list of 18 types of ptes . results showed that 395 ( 97% ) journalists had experienced at least one of the listed ptes in their life . a mean of 3.92 types of exposure ( sd = 2.41 , range = 013 ) was found for the group , with a sudden death of a family member or friend as the most frequent type of exposure , experienced by 284 journalists ( 70% ) . the occurrence of an indirect , or mediating , effect is supported if a significant relationship between a predictor variable and an outcome variable diminishes after introducing a third variable , the mediator ( baron & kenny , 1986 ) . a mediation effect can be either complete , when the significant relationship between predictor and outcome no longer prevails after adding the mediator , or partial , when the relationship is reduced in size , but still exists ( kenny , 2012 ) . a theoretical model of the mediation analysis is provided by kenny ( 2012 ) and presented in a slightly modified format in fig . a is the predictive value between predictor and mediator , and path b is the regression coefficient between mediator and outcome , while controlling for the effect of the original predictor . path c represents the regression coefficient between the predictor and the outcome variable before introducing the mediator . c stands for the  new  predictive value between the original predictor and outcome , with the mediator included , and thus should be smaller than c if an indirect effect is present . this can be represented by the following equation : c = c'+aba series of regression analyses ( table 3 ) were conducted to investigate whether exposure to ptas had a direct predictive effect on ptsd symptoms in the sample , and if so , whether symptoms of depression had an indirect effect on the relationship . in all analyses , sex was controlled for . first , a regression analysis was conducted to test for a predictive effect of pta exposure on higher level of ptsd symptoms . this model is a modified version of the model by kenny ( 2012 ) ( reproduced with permission from david a. kenny ) . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between exposure to ptas and ptsd symptoms . c represents the predictive value of ptas on ptsd before including depression into the equation ; c the value after including depression . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depression between exposure to ptas and ptsd , controlling for sex ( n=352 ) regression analysis of ptas as predictor of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . regression analysis of ptas and symptoms of depression as predictors of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . since a significant effect between ptas and ptsd symptoms was found , the relationship between the predictor and the mediator , or path a , was investigated . the regression analysis showed that pta exposure was a significant predictor for the proposed mediator , depression ( table 3 and fig . 2 , path a ) . in the final step of the mediation analysis , paths b and c were investigated by conducting a regression analysis that focused on the predictive value of the mediator ( depression ) on the outcome variable ( ptsd ) , including the original predictor ( ptas ) in the analysis . when introducing depression as a mediator , the predictive effect of ptas on ptsd symptoms was no longer significant ( see paths b and c in fig . 2 , and table 3 ) furthermore , a sobel test ( mackinnon , lockwood , hoffman , west & sheets , 2002 ; sobel , 1982 ) showed that the complete indirect effect of pta range via depression on ptsd was significant ( z=2.53 , p<.05 ) . a similar mediation model was used for investigating whether a possible predictive effect of ptes in personal life on ptsd symptoms would be indirectly affected by the level of depressive symptoms . in table 4 and the predictive value of pte exposure on ptsd symptoms diminished after introducing the mediator , but they still remained significant . a sobel test showed that the partial indirect effect of ptes experienced in personal life via symptoms of depression on symptoms of ptsd was significant ( z=3.97 , p<.001 ) . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between exposure to ptes in personal life and ptsd symptoms . c represents the predictive value of ptes on ptsd before including depression into the equation ; c the value after including depression . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depression between exposure to ptes in personal life and ptsd , controlling for sex ( n=352 ) regression analysis of ptes as predictor of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . regression analysis of ptes and symptoms of depression as predictors of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . differences between males and females were found on most factors ( table 1 ) . males reported a history of significantly more pta as well as pte exposure , whereas females had higher ptsd scores . journalists could indicate a maximum range of 14 pta types exposed to at the location of the event . among participants ( n=357 ) , 196 ( 55% ) had worked with at least one such event during the past year . as a group , the journalists reported having worked with a mean of 1.71 different types of events ( sd = 2.41 , range 012 ) during the past year . most frequent types of ptas in the past year participants ( n=407 ) indicated the types of ptes they have experienced from a list of 18 types of ptes . results showed that 395 ( 97% ) journalists had experienced at least one of the listed ptes in their life . a mean of 3.92 types of exposure ( sd = 2.41 , range = 013 ) was found for the group , with a sudden death of a family member or friend as the most frequent type of exposure , experienced by 284 journalists ( 70% ) . the occurrence of an indirect , or mediating , effect is supported if a significant relationship between a predictor variable and an outcome variable diminishes after introducing a third variable , the mediator ( baron & kenny , 1986 ) . a mediation effect can be either complete , when the significant relationship between predictor and outcome no longer prevails after adding the mediator , or partial , when the relationship is reduced in size , but still exists ( kenny , 2012 ) . a theoretical model of the mediation analysis is provided by kenny ( 2012 ) and presented in a slightly modified format in fig . a is the predictive value between predictor and mediator , and path b is the regression coefficient between mediator and outcome , while controlling for the effect of the original predictor . path c represents the regression coefficient between the predictor and the outcome variable before introducing the mediator . c stands for the  new  predictive value between the original predictor and outcome , with the mediator included , and thus should be smaller than c if an indirect effect is present . this can be represented by the following equation : c = c'+aba series of regression analyses ( table 3 ) were conducted to investigate whether exposure to ptas had a direct predictive effect on ptsd symptoms in the sample , and if so , whether symptoms of depression had an indirect effect on the relationship . in all analyses , sex was controlled for . first , a regression analysis was conducted to test for a predictive effect of pta exposure on higher level of ptsd symptoms . this model is a modified version of the model by kenny ( 2012 ) ( reproduced with permission from david a. kenny ) . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between exposure to ptas and ptsd symptoms . c represents the predictive value of ptas on ptsd before including depression into the equation ; c the value after including depression . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depression between exposure to ptas and ptsd , controlling for sex ( n=352 ) regression analysis of ptas as predictor of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . regression analysis of ptas and symptoms of depression as predictors of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . since a significant effect between ptas and ptsd symptoms was found , the relationship between the predictor and the mediator , or path a , was investigated . the regression analysis showed that pta exposure was a significant predictor for the proposed mediator , depression ( table 3 and fig . 2 , path a ) . in the final step of the mediation analysis , paths b and c were investigated by conducting a regression analysis that focused on the predictive value of the mediator ( depression ) on the outcome variable ( ptsd ) , including the original predictor ( ptas ) in the analysis . when introducing depression as a mediator , the predictive effect of ptas on ptsd symptoms was no longer significant ( see paths b and c in fig . 2 , and table 3 ) furthermore , a sobel test ( mackinnon , lockwood , hoffman , west & sheets , 2002 ; sobel , 1982 ) showed that the complete indirect effect of pta range via depression on ptsd was significant ( z=2.53 , p<.05 ) . a similar mediation model was used for investigating whether a possible predictive effect of ptes in personal life on ptsd symptoms would be indirectly affected by the level of depressive symptoms . in table 4 and the predictive value of pte exposure on ptsd symptoms diminished after introducing the mediator , but they still remained significant . a sobel test showed that the partial indirect effect of ptes experienced in personal life via symptoms of depression on symptoms of ptsd was significant ( z=3.97 , p<.001 ) . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between exposure to ptes in personal life and ptsd symptoms . c represents the predictive value of ptes on ptsd before including depression into the equation ; c the value after including depression . summary of an analysis of the mediating effect of depression between exposure to ptes in personal life and ptsd , controlling for sex ( n=352 ) regression analysis of ptes as predictor of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . regression analysis of ptes and symptoms of depression as predictors of symptoms of ptsd , controlling for sex . the aim of this study was to investigate whether the amount of trauma history at work and in personal life was related to levels of ptsd symptoms in journalists , and if so , whether this relationship was mediated by the severity of depressive symptoms . the work - related pta results showed that among the participants , 55% had been deployed to the location of a crisis in the past 12 months . this number is not directly comparable with smith and newman 's ( 2009 ) overview in which 86100% of news journalists had had assignments including potentially traumatic exposure at some point . it is worth noting that work - related trauma history questionnaires have varied between studies . in this study , only exposure to ptas among journalists directly witnessing a crisis was investigated , not exposure among journalists working with ptas , for example , in the newsroom . also , the sample was more strictly defined than that in some previous studies , including only journalists who had worked with at least one crisis assignment during their career . finally , the data was collected via a web - based survey ; therefore , the included sample may not be representative for finnish news journalists in general . still , the results from this study support the overall picture that exposure to ptas is common in journalistic work . these findings are roughly similar to those from other studies ; see , for example , dworznik ( 2008 ) , pyevich et al . the nature of the most frequent pta reflect an important aspect sometimes neglected within journalism and trauma research or teaching : crisis - related work relatively infrequently involves being sent out to large - scale disasters or war zones , but rather usually consists of small local incidents with a limited number of victims affected ( norwood , walsh & owen , 2003 ; simpson & cot , 2006 ) . in the sample , the numbers are in line with the conclusion drawn by norris and slone ( 2007 ) : by the age of 45 , most people will have been exposed to at least one pte . an indirect , or mediating , effect is defined by kenny ( 2012 ) as the possible effect of a third variable , intervening in an existing relationship between a predictor and an outcome . in this study , the range of depressive symptoms had a complete indirect effect on the relationship between work - related ptas during the past 12 months and current ptsd . also , depression had a partial indirect effect on the significant relationship between the range of lifetime personal ptes and ptsd symptoms . some conclusions can be made regarding the relationship between the two types ( work - related and private life ) of measured trauma history and ptsd . after including depression as an intervening variable , only private life trauma history had a significant predictive value on ptsd . on a broad level , these results support the epidemiological literature on risk factors for ptsd , where trauma history has been indicated as a central factor for heightened risk ( brewin , andrews & valentine , 2000 ; ozer , best , lipsey & weiss , 2003 ; vogt et al . , 2007 ) . in these studies , overall trauma history has been highlighted as a risk factor , and no differentiation between personal life and work - related exposure has been made . the connection found between personal ptes and current ptsd symptoms reinforces previously reported results for other journalist samples ( newman et al . some have not found any direct link between work exposure and trauma - induced distress ( dworznik , 2008 ; smith , 2008 ) , whereas the results of others suggest that such an impact exists ( newman et al . , 2003 ; pyevich et al . , 2003 ; simpson & boggs , 1999 ) . in relation to these results , the reader is reminded of the nature of the measurement of trauma history in this study . only potentially traumatic exposure was studied , and no data on the range of events provoking outspoken subjective severe distress was analyzed . furthermore , the exposure time period varied between instruments ( ptas during the past 12 months , personal ptes during a lifetime ) . as posited by dworznik ( 2008 ) , there is a need to refine the instruments used for measuring exposure to ptas in newsgatherers . for example , an added subscale probing for assignments experienced as traumatic ( dsm - iv ptsd criterion a2 ; american psychiatric association , 2000 ) would be useful in future research . as pointed out elsewhere by the authors ( backholm & bjrkqvist , 2010 ) , more research on the possible impact of ptas on journalists is clearly needed . in this study , depression had a strong indirect effect on the relationship between predictors and outcome , in the case of ptas to the point that the direct effect on ptsd disappeared . these findings indicate that previous symptoms of depression have a strong influence on the development of ptsd in journalists exposed to a potentially traumatic event during work or in personal life , supporting the notion of prior psychiatric history being a risk factor for ptsd ( brewin et al . , 2000 ; ozer et al . , 2003 ) . furthermore , this study design underlines the importance of taking the analysis a step further than merely treating both ptsd and depression as outcomes of traumatic exposure . although , as discussed in the introduction , a few studies in the broader area of trauma research have looked at the complex relationships among trauma history , ptsd , and depression in a more general sense , this study is of relevance since , to the authors knowledge , no studies with journalist samples have investigated depression as an intervening variable . the results in regard to the intervening effect of depression should , however , be interpreted with caution . the main limitation is related to the cross - sectional study design . although trauma history by definition consists of experiences that have occurred in the past , the assumptions behind included factors in the mediation models are theoretical only . more definitive results could be obtained by using a longitudinal design ( breslau , 2009 ; vogt et al . , 2007 ) . there is no conflict of interest in the present study for any of the authors .