Momentary dynamics of intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress symptoms among women: The influence of positive emotion dysregulation.

OBJECTIVE

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) are a major public health burden. Yet, there is a need to better understand how IPV and PTSS relate over time. One understudied factor that may influence the IPV-PTSS association is dysregulation stemming from positive emotions. The objective of the current study was to clarify the temporal dynamics between IPV types (psychological, physical, sexual) and PTSS as well as the influence of positive emotion dysregulation.

METHODS

Participants were 145 women recruited from the community (Mage = 40.66, 40.7 % white) experiencing IPV and using any amount of alcohol or drugs who completed a baseline session and three daily surveys for 30 days. A multi-level dynamic structural equation modeling analysis was tested.

RESULTS

At the within-person level, significant cross-lagged effects were found for IPV predicting next-interval PTSS for psychological (Standardized Fixed Effect Estimate = 0.27, 95 % CI[0.02, 0.61]) and physical (Standardized Fixed Effect Estimate = 0.61, 95 % CI[0.22, 1.14]) IPV, but not sexual IPV. At the between-person level, baseline positive emotion dysregulation was significantly associated with the random cross-lagged effect for IPV and next-interval PTSS for sexual IPV (Standardized Fixed Effect Estimate = 0.29, 95 % CI[0.02, 0.52]), but not psychological or physical IPV.

CONCLUSION

Findings shed light on how IPV across types perpetuates PTSS in the daily lived experiences of women who experience IPV and use substances and underscore a significant influence of positive emotion dysregulation.