Parent PTSD, social support and differential associations with facets of anxiety sensitivity.

Background

Anxiety Sensitivity (AS), the belief that anxiety experiences have negative implications, is a prospective predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has been linked to changes in PTSD in experimental studies. AS is comprised of three sub-components: cognitive, physical, and social concerns. PTSD is moderately heritable and parental PTSD may increase risk for these AS facets both directly and through environmental influences like reduced social support.

Objective

The present study will examine whether Parent PTSD is associated with reduced social support and in turn facets of AS.Method: Participants were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study of college student mental health; 94 individuals with current alcohol use disorder (AUD), PTSD, both, or neither (i.e. trauma-exposed controls) were included.

Results

Cross-sectional analyses revealed that offspring of parents with PTSD reported less social support in their families of origin, which was associated with higher AS-cognitive concerns. There was a direct effect of parent PTSD on physical concerns, but no effects of parent PTSD or support on social concerns.

Conclusions

Offspring of parents with PTSD who perceive less family support may be at higher risk for internalising problems via increased negativity, and may not feel that their caregivers are reliable sources of emotional regulation. Therefore, reduced support may explain the path between parent PTSD and cognitive AS concerns. In contrast, it is possible that simply having a parent with PTSD who perhaps displays outward symptoms of anxiety increases risk for more AS physical concerns. Together, these findings suggest that offspring of parents with PTSD are a high-risk group on whom family-based interventions bolstering social support and AS (cognitive)-based interventions ought to be focused.