Disgust and the development of posttraumatic stress among soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.
Although the DSM-IV recognizes that events can traumatize by evoking horror, not just fear, the role of disgust in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has received little research attention. In a study of soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, we examined whether reports of peritraumatic disgust and trait disgust vulnerability factors (disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity) predict PTSD-symptoms, independently of peritraumatic fear, neuroticism, and anxiety sensitivity. Participants (N = 174) enrolled in this study before deployment, and were retested around 6 months (N = 138; 79%) and, again, 15 months (N = 107; 62%) after returning home. The results showed that (1) greater peritraumatic disgust and fear independently predicted PTSD-symptom severity at 6 months, (2) greater disgust propensity predicted more peritraumatic disgust, but not PTSD-symptom severity, and (3) disgust sensitivity moderated the relationship between peritraumatic disgust and PTSD-symptom severity. Implications of these findings for broadening the affective vulnerabilities that may contribute to PTSD will be discussed.
Engelhard
Iris M
IM
Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80140, 3508TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. i.m.engelhard@uu.nl
Olatunji
Bunmi O
BO
de Jong
Peter J
PJ
D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires