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Experiential Avoidance Mediates the Association Between Behavioral Inhibition and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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Abstract

Despite the large body of research on the risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), few studies have examined specific personality factors that may be associated with risk for PTSD or the potential mechanisms that may underlie the association between personality and PTSD. Thus, this study sought to examine the relation between the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), a motivational brain-based system associated with the experience of anxiety, and probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) status. Further, we examined the mediating role of experiential avoidance in the relation between BIS sensitivity and PTSD. Participants included 291 undergraduates who indicated they had experienced a potentially traumatic event at some point in their life. As expected, significant associations were found between BIS sensitivity, experiential avoidance, and probable PTSD status. Results indicated that BIS scores significantly predicted probable PTSD status above and beyond other relevant covariates, including anxiety symptom severity. Further, this association was found to be fully mediated by experiential avoidance.

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Notes

  1. Although the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (Gray and McNaughton 2000) has revised and separates the functions of the BAS, BIS and FFFS, current measures of RST do not, as most widely-used measures of RST (including the scale used here, the BIS/BAS Scales; Carver and White 1994) are based on the original version of RST. Further, although there have been attempts to distinguish BIS and FFFS sensitivity within the BIS/BAS Scales (Heym et al. 2008), there is only limited support for these revisions. Thus, for the purposes of this paper, we are using the theory and available assessments from the original RST.

  2. In further support of the notion that the AAQ is assessing a construct separate from the PTSD avoidance symptom cluster, within this sample, AAQ scores were only correlated with avoidance symptom severity (as assessed by the PCL) at .28 and demonstrated higher correlations with other symptom clusters (e.g., hyperarousal, r = .37).

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS, 39216, USA

    Danielle J. Maack, Matthew T. Tull & Kim L. Gratz

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  1. Danielle J. Maack
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Maack, D.J., Tull, M.T. & Gratz, K.L. Experiential Avoidance Mediates the Association Between Behavioral Inhibition and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Cogn Ther Res 36, 407–416 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9362-2

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