A qualitative, test-replicate approach to understanding trauma in late adolescence and early emerging adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how racially diverse, late-adolescent/early emerging adult college students in the American Southeast would describe past-year traumatic events. METHOD: = 21.1 years, 11.2% lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questionning) emphasized descriptive consistency of themes. RESULTS: = 10). In both studies, the most common experiences were in reference to collective trauma (49.1%-52.0%), especially exposure to school/mass shootings (22.4% in Study 1) and other international traumatic events (e.g., Israel-Hamas/Gaza war; 16.3% in Study 2). Students often reported learning about national/international traumatic events via social media. Direct and indirect trauma, especially death or illness/injury of a loved one, were also relevant. CONCLUSION: Multiple forms of direct and indirect trauma are relevant to late adolescent/early emerging adults in college, though collective trauma may be especially meaningful. Further research is needed to understand its relevance to increasingly common internalizing symptoms among young people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).