Citation

Kiefer R, Goncharenko S, Forkus SR, Contractor AA, LeBlanc N, Weiss NH. Anxiety Stress Coping 2023; 36(3): 366-381.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10615806.2022.2079636

PMID

35603928

Abstract

Background The co-occurrence of childhood trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is highly prevalent and clinically significant. Existing research emphasizes the role of emotion regulation in the relation between childhood trauma and PTSD. Yet, research in this area has almost exclusively examined the influence of strategies aimed at regulating negative emotions, such as anger and sadness.

OBJECTIVE To extend existing research, the current study examined underlying roles of strategies for regulating positive emotions (i.e., self- and emotion-focused positive rumination and positive dampening) in the association between childhood trauma severity and PTSD symptoms.Participants and Setting Participants were 320 trauma-exposed community individuals who reported past 30-day substance use (Mage = 35.78, 50.3% men, 81.6% white).

METHOD Analyses examined whether childhood trauma severity was indirectly related to PTSD symptoms through self-focused positive rumination, emotion-focused positive rumination, and positive dampening.

RESULTS Positive dampening, but not positive self- and emotion-focused positive rumination, indirectly explained associations between childhood trauma severity and PTSD symptoms (B =.17, SE =.03, 95% CI [.12,.24]).

CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the potential utility of targeting positive dampening in the treatment of PTSD symptoms among individuals who use substances with a history of childhood trauma.

Language: en

Keywords

Childhood trauma; emotion-focused positive rumination; positive dampening; positive emotion regulation; posttraumatic stress disorder; self-focused positive rumination