Citation

Orth U, Cahill SP, Foa EB, Maercker A. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 2008; 76(2): 208-218.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/0022-006X.76.2.208

PMID

18377118

Abstract

Among trauma-exposed individuals, severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms is strongly correlated with anger. The authors used 2 longitudinal data sets with 282 and 218 crime victims, respectively, to investigate the temporal sequence of anger and PTSD symptoms following the assault. Cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that PTSD symptoms predicted subsequent level of anger, but that anger did not predict subsequent PTSD symptoms. Testing alternative models (common factor model, unmeasured 3rd variable model) that might account for spuriousness of the relation strengthened confidence in the results of the cross-lagged analyses. Further analyses suggested that rumination mediates the effect of PTSD symptoms on anger.

Language: en