Journal of Traumatic Stress April 2013, 26, 184–191 The Associations Between Coping Self-Efficacy and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms 10 Years Postdisaster: Differences Between Men and Women Mark W. G. Bosmans, 1 Charles C. Benight, 2 Leontien M. van der Knaap, 1 Frans Willem Winkel, 1,3 and Peter G. van der Velden 1,4,5 1 Intervict, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands 2 University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA 3 Centre for Psychotrauma, Reinier van Arkel Group, Den Bosch, The Netherlands 4 Institute for Psychotrauma, Diemen, The Netherlands 5 Arq Psychotrauma Research group, Diemen, The Netherlands The mediating role of coping self-efficacy (CSE) perceptions between disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) in the intermediate term (4 years postevent) and PSS in the long term (10 years postevent) were examined. Participants were 514 adult Dutch native residents affected by the Enschede fireworks disaster. The disaster (May, 2000) was caused by a massive explosion in a fireworks storage facility that destroyed a residential area. Multiple regression analysis and path analysis were used to examine the mediating role of CSE and whether the mediating role was the same for men and women. Age, education, disaster exposure, home destruction, optimism, and stressful life events were also taken into account. Regression analysis showed that the former variables were not associated with PSS at 10 years postevent, in contrast to PSS at 4 years, and were therefore omitted from the path analyses. CSE assessed at 10 years postdisaster partially mediated the relationship between PSS at 4 and PSS at 10 years postdisaster. Post hoc multigroup analysis showed that this effect was significantly stronger for men, whereas the association between PSS at 4 and 10 years postevent was stronger for women. PSS at 10 years postevent were better predicted among men (explained variance 59.5% vs 50.8%). The adverse effects of disasters on mental health have been well documented (Galea, Nandi, & Vlahov, 2005; Norris, Friedman, et al., 2002; Rubonis & Bickman, 1991). Although intense stress reactions during the first days and weeks postevent are common, in most cases only a minority of those exposed will suffer from psychopathology in the long term. This, however, does not mean it is an insignificant minority. In their review, Galea and colleagues (2005) conclude that a decade after dis- asters 7%–25% of the exposed suffer from posttraumatic stress or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We gratefully thank all affected residents who participated in our study. The first three waves were conducted on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. The fourth wave was made possible by a special grant of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment for innovative research projects. This article is part of a large research project on coping self- efficacy, granted by the Victim Support Fund (Fonds Slachtofferhulp), The Netherlands. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mark W.G. Bosmans, Intervict, Tilburg University, Tilburg, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE, The Netherlands. E-mail: m.w.g.bosmans@tilburguniversity.edu Copyright C  2013 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com DOI: 10.1002/jts.21789 One of the most compelling questions in postdisaster men- tal health recovery is why some adult victims develop signifi- cant posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS), whereas others do not. This matter has been the subject of a large number of disaster studies that examined a variety of predisposing, pre- cipitating, and perpetuating risk factors for PSS (Neria, Nandi, & Galea, 2008). Even so, as Brewin, Andrews, and Valen- tine (2000) and Ozer, Best, Lipsey, and Weiss (2003) showed in their meta-analyses, the empirical evidence linking these factors to PSS has been inconsistent. Furthermore, none ex- plained a substantial amount of the variance of PSS. A re- cent meta-analysis (Luszczynska, Benight, & Cieslak, 2009), however, demonstrated relatively large effect sizes for coping self-efficacy (CSE) perceptions in predicting PSS following collective trauma (r =−.55 to −.62). CSE is the “perceived capability to manage one’s personal functioning and the myriad environmental demands of the af- termath occasioned by a traumatic event” (Benight & Bandura, 2004, p. 1130). This core belief promotes resilience to adversity by affecting the degree to which an event is perceived as threat- ening, the motivation to employ effective coping strategies, and the degree of rumination about the events. Conversely, stress is the result of the perception that current demands exceed the 184