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Maladaptive trauma appraisals mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptom severity.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Ogle, CM; Rubin, DC; Siegler, IC
Published in: Psychol Trauma
May 2016

OBJECTIVE: In a large sample of community-dwelling older adults with histories of exposure to a broad range of traumatic events, we examined the extent to which appraisals of traumatic events mediate the relations between insecure attachment styles and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. METHOD: Participants completed an assessment of adult attachment, in addition to measures of PTSD symptom severity, event centrality, event severity, and ratings of the A1 PTSD diagnostic criterion for the potentially traumatic life event that bothered them most at the time of the study. RESULTS: Consistent with theoretical proposals and empirical studies indicating that individual differences in adult attachment systematically influence how individuals evaluate distressing events, individuals with higher attachment anxiety perceived their traumatic life events to be more central to their identity and more severe. Greater event centrality and event severity were each in turn related to higher PTSD symptom severity. In contrast, the relation between attachment avoidance and PTSD symptoms was not mediated by appraisals of event centrality or event severity. Furthermore, neither attachment anxiety nor attachment avoidance was related to participants' ratings of the A1 PTSD diagnostic criterion. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that attachment anxiety contributes to greater PTSD symptom severity through heightened perceptions of traumatic events as central to identity and severe. (PsycINFO Database Record

Duke Scholars

Published In

Psychol Trauma

DOI

EISSN

1942-969X

Publication Date

May 2016

Volume

8

Issue

3

Start / End Page

301 / 309

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Psychological Trauma
  • Object Attachment
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Life Change Events
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Anxiety
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Ogle, C. M., Rubin, D. C., & Siegler, I. C. (2016). Maladaptive trauma appraisals mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptom severity. Psychol Trauma, 8(3), 301–309. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000112
Ogle, Christin M., David C. Rubin, and Ilene C. Siegler. “Maladaptive trauma appraisals mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptom severity.Psychol Trauma 8, no. 3 (May 2016): 301–9. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000112.
Ogle CM, Rubin DC, Siegler IC. Maladaptive trauma appraisals mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptom severity. Psychol Trauma. 2016 May;8(3):301–9.
Ogle, Christin M., et al. “Maladaptive trauma appraisals mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptom severity.Psychol Trauma, vol. 8, no. 3, May 2016, pp. 301–09. Pubmed, doi:10.1037/tra0000112.
Ogle CM, Rubin DC, Siegler IC. Maladaptive trauma appraisals mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and PTSD symptom severity. Psychol Trauma. 2016 May;8(3):301–309.

Published In

Psychol Trauma

DOI

EISSN

1942-969X

Publication Date

May 2016

Volume

8

Issue

3

Start / End Page

301 / 309

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Psychological Trauma
  • Object Attachment
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Life Change Events
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Anxiety