 |
Exposure to interpersonal violence
as a predictor of PTSD-symptomatology in domestic violence
survivors
Griffing, S., Lewis, C.S., Chu, M., Sage, R.E., Madry,
L., and Primm, B.J. (in press). Journal of Interpersonal
Violence.
|
|
This study examines the interrelationships between childhood
abuse, exposure to maternal domestic violence, and posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in a multiethnic sample of 111 adult
female residents of a domestic violence (DV) shelter. Participants
completed structured interviews about the DV and their prior violence
exposure, as well as the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. As hypothesized,
there was high co-occurrence between exposure to maternal DV and childhood
physical and sexual abuse, and the frequency of lifetime violence
exposure predicted PTSD symptomatology. A series of multiple regressions
indicated a more complex pattern of relationships, in which specific
forms of violence predicted different PTSD symptom dimensions. A history
of witnessing maternal DV predicted intrusion symptoms, and the severity
of the DV predicted avoidance symptoms. Both, the severity of the
current DV and a history of childhood sexual abuse predicted hyperarousal
symptoms. Ethnicity was not related to levels of violence exposure
or to PTSD symptoms. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
|
|
|
|
|
