Citation

Franz VA, Arnkoff DB, Glass CR, Mete M, Dutton MA. J. Trauma. Stress 2011; 24(5): 530-537.

Affiliation

The Catholic University of America. vafranz@hotmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20676

PMID

21882248

Abstract

This study examined the role of several hypothesized predictors of the impact of a potentially traumatic event, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), on a sample of women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). We found that IPV-related PTSS mediated the relationship between IPV and 9/11-related PTSS, confirming the hypothesis that severity of symptoms related to prior trauma plays a role in the development and severity of PTSS related to subsequent potentially traumatic events. Media exposure and threat appraisal were significantly positively associated with 9/11-related PTSS, whereas social support was significantly negatively associated with 9/11-related PTSS, with none of these variables serving as moderators of the relationship between IPV-related and 9/11-related PTSS. Our results suggest that trauma-related psychiatric history is an important factor in the development of PTSS subsequent to an additional potentially traumatic event, even after adjusting for relevant variables occurring at the time of that event.

Language: en