Background

The co-occurrence of childhood abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among United States military veterans is highly prevalent and clinically significant. Emotion dysregulation is one factor that has been found to underlie the association between childhood abuse and PTSD, yet past research has focused exclusively on dysregulation stemming from negative emotions.

Objective

The current study extends existing research by clarifying the role of positive emotion dysregulation in the relation between childhood abuse and PTSD in a community sample of military veterans.

Participants and setting

Participants were 465 trauma-exposed military veterans in the community (M_age = 38.00, 71.6 % women, 69.5 % White).

Method

Using structural equation modeling, we tested the indirect association of childhood abuse to PTSD symptom severity through positive emotion dysregulation.

Results

The hypothesized model showed adequate model fit, χ² (32, n = 465) = 176.22, p < .001, CFI = .97, RMSEA = .10, 90 % CI [.08, .11], SRMR = .04. Results showed that childhood abuse was indirectly associated with PTSD symptom severity through positive emotion dysregulation.

Conclusions

This finding highlights the potential utility of targeting positive emotion dysregulation in the detection and treatment of PTSD symptoms in veterans who experienced childhood abuse.

中文翻译：

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退伍军人社区样本中积极情绪失调在童年虐待与创伤后应激障碍之间关系中的作用

背景

在美国退伍军人中，儿童期虐待和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）同时发生的情况非常普遍，并且具有临床意义。情绪失调是导致儿童虐待和创伤后应激障碍之间关联的因素之一，但过去的研究只集中于负面情绪引起的失调。

客观的

目前的研究通过阐明积极情绪失调在退伍军人社区样本中儿童虐待和创伤后应激障碍之间关系中的作用，扩展了现有的研究。

参加者及设置

参与者是社区中 465 名遭受创伤的退伍军人（M_年龄= 38.00，71.6% 女性，69.5% 白人）。

方法

使用结构方程模型，我们通过积极的情绪失调测试了童年虐待与 PTSD 症状严重程度的间接关联。

结果

假设模型显示出足够的模型拟合，χ ² (32, n = 465) = 176.22，p < .001，CFI = .97，RMSEA = .10，90 % CI [.08, .11]，SRMR = .04 。结果表明，童年期虐待通过积极情绪失调与 PTSD 症状严重程度间接相关。

结论

这一发现凸显了针对积极情绪失调在检测和治疗经历过童年虐待的退伍军人的创伤后应激障碍症状方面的潜在效用。