TRIGGER WARNINGS IN CONTEXT: THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL BETRAYAL IN THE TRIGGER WARNING DEBATE.

The Problem: Trigger warnings (TWs) are alerts before media signaling readers that upcoming material may serve as trauma reminders. In the context of campus sexual assault, some undergraduates have advocated for TWs in classrooms, which has led to polarized debate. As one of few empirical investigations into the issues, the present study explored predictors of TW advocacy that reflect presumed or hypothesized motivations for advocacy reflected in the debate. Method: Participants (n = 51) were traditional undergraduates who completed measures of TW attitudes, trait-like avoidance, posttraumatic stress, and institutional betrayal. Results: Results of a hierarchical linear regression revealed that institutional betrayal emerged as the only significant predictor among these factors (p = .023). Conclusions: The finding improves understanding of the context, potential motivations, future directions of investigation, and represents one of first few empirical contributions to the TW debate. It supports the conclusion that many students requesting TWs in classrooms are motivated, in part, by the belief that their educational institution has not proven trustworthy in valuing their safety and emotional wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]