Premium
The interaction between baseline trait anxiety and trauma exposure as predictor of post‐trauma symptoms of anxiety and insomnia
Author(s) -
LARSSON MAGNUS R.,
BÄCKSTRÖM MARTIN,
JOHANSON AKI
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00649.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , trait anxiety , psychology , distress , insomnia , clinical psychology , trait , psychiatry , computer science , programming language
In this study a prospective design was used to investigate the interaction between baseline trait anxiety and exposure to traumatic situations on post‐trauma symptoms of anxiety and insomnia in a sample of Swedish peacekeeping soldiers serving in Kosovo. The result showed that pre‐trauma trait anxiety interacted with exposure to traumatic situations predicting a higher post‐trauma distress. Further, baseline trait anxiety and baseline symptoms of anxiety and insomnia predicted post‐trauma symptoms of anxiety and insomnia. The results support a diathesis stress model in which high trait anxiety interacts with trauma exposure in the elicitation of anxiety‐related distress but the study needs to be replicated before further conclusions can be drawn.