Posttraumatic anger in a national Sample: Demographic and clinical correlates

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often characterized by intense anger and other negative emotions. This led to the inclusion of the experience of these negative emotions among DSM-5 PTSD diagnostic criteria. Though anger has been linked to a range of different conditions, the concept of posttraumatic anger has not been studied extensively. The present study investigated sociodemographic and psychiatric correlates of posttraumatic anger in a nationally representative sample of individuals exposed to trauma (N = 23,936). Notably, 22.4 % of the sample endorsed posttraumatic anger, and of those that met criteria for PTSD (n = 2339), 80.6 % endorsed posttraumatic anger. We found that female sex, Native American/Alaskan race, and identifying as a sexual minority were associated with increased odds of endorsing posttraumatic anger. Conversely, Asian race, being married, having higher income and education, and being older were associated with lower likelihood of posttraumatic anger. We also found multiple anxiety, mood, and substance used disorders were associated with posttraumatic anger, even after accounting for PTSD. The present study provides novel data on the prevalence of posttraumatic anger and its relevance to specific demographic characteristics and psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: Anger; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Trauma.