Daily exposure to combat-related cues and posttraumatic stress symptoms among veterans: Moderating effects of peri- and postdeployment experiences.

One of the central symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heightened reactivity to trauma cues. The current study used experience sampling to investigate the associations between exposure to combat-related cues and PTSD symptoms in 93 U.S. veterans who served in support of recent military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. We also examined the effects of peri- and postdeployment factors, including exposure to combat, unit support during deployment, and postdeployment social support on PTSD. Participants completed eight brief random surveys daily for 2 weeks using palmtop computers. The results indicated that more daytime exposure to trauma cues was associated with experiencing more PTSD symptoms at the within-person level, B = 3.18. At the between-person level, combat exposure, B = 4.20, was associated with more PTSD symptoms, whereas unit support, B = -0.89, was associated with experiencing fewer symptoms. At the cross-level interaction, unit support, B = -0.80, moderated the association between trauma cue exposure and PTSD symptom count. Contrary to our hypothesis, postdeployment social support, B = -0.59, was not associated with PTSD symptoms. These findings suggest a functional association between exposure to trauma cues and PTSD symptoms among recent-era U.S. veterans and underscore the importance of unit support during deployment.

Associations of experiential avoidance with burnout, wellbeing, and productivity loss among police officers: The mediating role of negative and positive affect.

OBJECTIVES: The current study aims to investigate the indirect associations between experiential avoidance (EA) and burnout, wellbeing, and productivity loss (PL) via the mediating role of positive and negative emotions among police officers. METHODS: Data were collected on 187 officers (84% male) aged 21-64 years between 2019 and 2020. Participants completed online self-report measures. RESULTS: EA was indirectly associated with burnout via positive and negative affect. EA was indirectly associated with wellbeing through positive affect, positive affect and burnout, and negative affect and burnout. Finally, EA was indirectly associated with PL via positive affect and burnout, and negative affect and burnout. CONCLUSION: Results provide support for the role of EA in officers' wellbeing and job performance via increasing negative affect and decreasing positive affect. This highlights the importance of interventions, such as acceptance and commitment therapy that target acceptance and psychological flexibility.

The indirect effect from childhood maltreatment to PTSD symptoms via thought suppression and cognitive reappraisal.

BACKGROUND: Emotion regulation strategies may help explain the risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among adults with a history of child maltreatment. However, no study to date has examined the roles of both thought suppression and cognitive reappraisal in the association between childhood maltreatment and PTSD symptoms. OBJECTIVE: The current study sought to understand the associations between childhood maltreatment, thought suppression, cognitive reappraisal, and PTSD symptoms while controlling for negative affect and gender. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Data were collected on 660 university students (71 % female) ages 18-25 between 2013 and 2014. Participants completed self-report measures of childhood maltreatment, PTSD symptoms, and emotion regulation strategies. METHOD: A structural equation model was tested to examine the direct and indirect effects from childhood maltreatment to PTSD symptoms via thought suppression and cognitive reappraisal, over and above gender and negative affect. RESULTS: Childhood maltreatment was directly associated with PTSD symptoms (ß = 0.28, SE = 0.04, p < .001). Childhood maltreatment also had a significant indirect effect on PTSD via cognitive reappraisal (ß = 0.01, CI 95 % [0.00, 0.03]), but not through thought suppression, although (ß = 0.01, CI 95 % [-0.00, 0.04]) thought suppression was significantly positively associated with PTSD symptoms (ß = 0.21, SE = 0.04, p < .001). CONCLUSION: The present study sheds light on the effect of childhood maltreatment and two commonly used emotion regulation strategies on PTSD symptoms.