Social constraints, posttraumatic cognitions, and PTSD symptoms in treatment-seeking trauma survivors: Evidence for a social cognitive processing model

Considerable research has emerged to explore the factors that contribute to the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A Social Cognitive Processing (SCP) model of adjustment posits that limited opportunities to interpersonally process stressful events may lead to a greater frequency and intensity of symptoms and contribute to the development of clinically significant impairment. While this model has been applied to medical populations adjusting to health-related stressors, limited research has applied this model to a heterogeneous group of trauma survivors likely meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The current study extends the literature by applying a Social Cognitive Processing model of adjustment to a community sample of trauma survivors.;Based on the SCP model, the current study sought to explore the influence of both social-contextual and cognitive factors on the development of PTSD. Thirty-nine participants who had experienced a trauma within the past 2 years and were seeking treatment at university-based trauma clinic completed pre-treatment baseline assessments, including a sociodemographic questionnaire and self-report measures of social constraints, negative posttraumatic cognitions, and PTSD symptoms. Regression analyses indicated that greater social constraints and greater negative posttraumatic cognitions were associated with greater PTSD symptoms. Additionally, there was a significant positive relationship between social constraints and negative posttraumatic cognitions. Further analysis supported a mediational model in which the relationship between social constraints and PTSD was partially accounted for by negative posttraumatic cognitions. These findings lend further support for the SCP model of adjustment for trauma survivors. Inhibiting social environments may impede trauma processing and prompt more distressing posttraumatic cognitions that underlie PTSD.