Citation

Weiss NH, Tull MT, Viana AG, Anestis MD, Gratz KL. J. Anxiety Disord. 2012; 26(3): 453-458.

Affiliation

Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.01.007

PMID

22366447

PMCID

PMC3305816

Abstract

Recent investigations have demonstrated that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with a range of impulsive behaviors (e.g., risky sexual behavior and antisocial behavior). The purpose of the present study was to extend extant research by exploring whether emotion dysregulation explains the association between PTSD and impulsive behaviors. Participants were an ethnically diverse sample of 206 substance use disorder (SUD) patients in residential substance abuse treatment. Results demonstrated an association between PTSD and impulsive behaviors, with SUD patients with PTSD reporting significantly more impulsive behaviors than SUD patients without PTSD (in general and when controlling for relevant covariates). Further, emotion dysregulation was found to fully mediate the relationship between PTSD and impulsive behaviors. Results highlight the relevance of emotion dysregulation to impulsive behaviors and suggest that treatments targeting emotion dysregulation may be useful in reducing impulsive behaviors among SUD patients with PTSD.

Language: en