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. 2021 May 29;15(2):249-259.
doi: 10.1007/s40653-021-00364-y. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Childhood Physical Abuse and Antisocial Traits: Mediating Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Clusters

Catherine E Harris  1 , Lucy J Allbaugh  2 , Nadine J Kaslow  3
Affiliations

Childhood Physical Abuse and Antisocial Traits: Mediating Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Clusters

Catherine E Harris et al. J Child Adolesc Trauma. .

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are associated with both childhood physical abuse (CPA) and antisocial (AS) traits, yet their potential as mediators of the CPA-AS traits link is understudied and the specific roles of individual symptom clusters in this relation is unknown. The current study aimed to examine the mediational role of PTSS in the relation between CPA and AS traits in a sample of low-income African American women with histories of intimate partner violence (IPV). It was hypothesized that avoidance would emerge as a significant mediator, whereas reexperiencing, numbing, and hyperarousal would not. Participants (N = 150) were recruited from a level-1 trauma public hospital and evaluated as part of a randomized controlled trial of a group therapy intervention for low-income, African American women suicide attempters with histories of IPV. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), and International Personality Disorder Examination-Screening Questionnaire (IPDE-SQ) were used to measure variables of interest. Using bootstrapping analyses, a parallel mediation model compared PTSS clusters as potential mediators of the CPA-AS traits relation, controlling for IPV. When reexperiencing, avoidance, numbing, and hyperarousal were entered simultaneously as potential mediators, only avoidance emerged as a significant mediator of the CPA-AS traits link. Avoidance symptoms may play a unique role in the link between early experiences of CPA and later AS traits among multiply traumatized African American women. Findings have implications for understanding AS traits in the context of early life trauma and suggest that targeting specific PTSS clusters (e.g., avoidance) may improve treatment outcomes for women in this population.

Keywords: African American women; Antisocial personality disorder; Antisocial traits; Childhood physical abuse; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic stress symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestOn behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Parallel Mediation Model, with PTSS Clusters as Mediators of the Relation Between CPA and Adult AS Traits. Note. Unstandardized parameter estimates are presented. *p < .05, **p < .01
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