ArticleThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2014
Post-traumatic stress symptoms and adult attachment: a 24-year longitudinal study.
Article in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mediators of attachment, frailty, and mild cognitive impairment in older adults.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- Changes in attachment dimensions during the treatment of acute post-traumatic stress disorder in sexually assaulted Brazilian women.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Trauma Coping Self-Efficacy Mediates Associations Between Adult Attachment and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Activating the attachment system modulates neural responses to threat in refugees with PTSD.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2021Article
- Vulnerability Factors Associated with Lifetime Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Veterans 40 Years after War.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Posttraumatic stress symptom persistence across 24 years: association with brain structures.Brain imaging and behavior · 2020Article
- Frustration Tolerance and Personality Traits in Patients With Substance Use Disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Posttraumatic stress disorder and relationship functioning: A comprehensive review and organizational framework.Clinical psychology review · 2018Review
- Oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms, attachment, and PTSD: Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study.Journal of psychiatric research · 2017Article
- An Intra-Interpersonal Vulnerability Model for Understanding Trauma Conditions: Factors in the Development and Maintenance of PTSD and Complex PTSD.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesAttachment theory has become a key framework for understanding responses to and consequences of trauma across the life course. We predicted that more severe post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms at age 37 years would be associated with insecure attachment at age 55 and with worse PTS symptoms 24 years later at age 61, and that age 55 attachment would mediate the influence of earlier PTS symptoms on later symptoms.
designData on PTS self-reported symptoms were available for 975 community-dwelling participants from the longitudinal Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging at ages 37 and 61 years. At age 55, participants completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory, a measure of adult attachment.
resultsPTS symptoms at ages 37 and 61 correlated (r = 0.43; p <0.0001). Multiple mediation models found significant direct effects of age 37 PTS symptoms on age 61 PTS symptoms (β = 0.26; 95% confidence interval: 0.19-0.33). Anxious and avoidant attachment at age 55 predicted PTS symptoms at age 61 (r = 0.34 and 0.25; ps <0.0001, respectively) and also significantly mediated PTS symptoms over time, showing that insecure attachment increased PTS severity. Participants with higher age 37 PTS symptoms were more likely to have a history of divorce; marital status did not mediate PTS.
conclusionsAnalyses demonstrate the persistence of PTS symptoms from early midlife into early old age. Mediation analyses revealed that one path through which PTS symptoms persisted was indirect: through their influence on attachment insecurity. This study provides insight into ongoing interconnections between psychological and interpersonal responses to stress.
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