Gender as a moderator of the relation between PTSD and disgust: a laboratory test employing individualized script-driven imagery.
The present study examines anxiety and disgust responding during exposure to trauma cues as a function of gender and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma exposed adults without PTSD were compared to adults with PTSD during a script-driven imagery procedure that exposed each participant to individualized traumatic event cues. Anxiety responding during exposure to an individualized traumatic event script was not associated with gender, PTSD, or interaction of gender and PTSD in the present study. However, gender did moderate the relation between disgust responding and PTSD, such that females with PTSD reported more disgust during the script in comparison to females without PTSD and males with and without PTSD. Heart rate during the individualized trauma script was significantly higher among males with PTSD compared to males without PTSD and females with PTSD. Implications of these findings for conceptualizing how gender differences in emotional and physiological responding contribute to development and course of PTSD are discussed.
Olatunji
Bunmi O
BO
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. olubunmi.o.olatunji@vanderbilt.edu
Babson
Kimberly A
KA
Smith
Rose C
RC
Feldner
Matthew T
MT
Connolly
Kevin M
KM
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007206:Individuality; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D013067:Speech Perception; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult