Premium
Behavioral inhibition and posttrauma symptomatology: Moderating effects of safety behaviors and biological sex
Author(s) -
McClure Kenneth E.,
Blakey Shan M.,
Kozina Ryan M.,
Ripley Adam J.,
Kern Shira M.,
Clapp Joshua D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22778
Subject(s) - safety behaviors , behavioral inhibition , psychology , arousal , anxiety , mood , habituation , clinical psychology , poison control , reactivity (psychology) , injury prevention , behavioral activation , cognition , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency , alternative medicine , pathology , psychotherapist , neuroscience
Objectives Behavioral inhibition is a trait‐level factor associated with posttraumatic stress. Safety behaviors may impact this link by interfering with anxiety habituation. The current study examined the unique and interactive effects of behavioral inhibition, safety behaviors, and participant sex on posttrauma symptom clusters. Method Participants ( N = 131; 75.6% female; M = 19.9 years) completed a trauma history interview and questionnaires assessing behavioral inhibition, safety behavior, and posttrauma symptom severity. Results Safety behaviors were associated with intrusion (partial correlations [pr] = 0.319), avoidance (pr = 0.274), cognition‐mood (pr = 0.274), and arousal–reactivity (pr = 0.538) symptoms (all p ≤ 0.001). An interaction of sex and safety behaviors was noted for avoidance ( p = 0.047, pr = −0.159) with a significant relation observed only among women ( p < 0.001, pr = 0.442). Safety behaviors also moderated the link between behavioral inhibition and arousal–reactivity ( p = 0.002, pr = 0.272) with inhibition predicting symptoms at high levels of safety behavior ( p = 0.024, pr = 0.171). Conclusion Trauma‐related safety behaviors are associated with greater posttrauma symptoms and evidence differential effects across individual symptom domains.