Fredman Steffany J, Lee Jeesun, Le Yunying, Taverna Emily, Marshall Amy D
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; Center for Healthy Aging, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Behav Res Ther. 2025 Jan;184:104666. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2024.104666. Epub 2024 Dec 4.
This study investigated between-person associations among PTSD symptoms, fear of emotion, and perceived couple communication difficulties in a dyadic context among 64 trauma-exposed, mixed gender community couples (N = 128 individuals) using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model. Individuals with higher PTSD symptoms endorsed greater fear of their emotions (β = .72; β = .49), and those with greater fear of their emotions reported lower levels of constructive couple communication (β = -.19; β = -.21) and higher levels of self-demand/partner-withdraw communication (β = .20; β = .25) and partner-demand/self-withdraw communication (β = .26; β = .33) with their partners. Additionally, women whose partners had higher PTSD symptoms endorsed greater fear of their emotions (β = .30). The most robust indirect PTSD-communication links were between (a) individuals' PTSD symptoms and their perceptions of partner-demand/self-withdraw communication when accounting for associations with fear of their emotions and (b) men's PTSD symptoms and women's perceived partner-demand/self-withdraw communication accounting for associations with women's fear of their emotions. Men with higher PTSD symptoms also reported greater self-demand/partner-withdraw communication (β = .28), independent of their fear of emotion. Couple-based treatments for PTSD that promote emotional tolerance and are sensitive to gender differences in how PTSD symptoms relate to each partner's perception of the man-demand/woman-withdraw communication pattern may improve trauma survivors' relationship functioning and increase the potential for relationships to serve as a conduit for recovery from PTSD.
本研究采用行为者-伙伴相互依赖中介模型，在64对经历过创伤的、不同性别的社区伴侣（N = 128人）中，研究了创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状、对情绪的恐惧以及感知到的夫妻沟通困难之间的个体间关联。PTSD症状较重的个体对自己的情绪表现出更大的恐惧（β = 0.72；β = 0.49），而那些对自己情绪恐惧程度较高的个体报告称，与伴侣进行建设性夫妻沟通的水平较低（β = -0.19；β = -0.21），自我要求/伴侣退缩沟通（β = 0.20；β = 0.25）和伴侣要求/自我退缩沟通（β = 0.26；β = 0.33）的水平较高。此外，伴侣PTSD症状较重的女性对自己的情绪表现出更大的恐惧（β = 0.30）。最显著的间接PTSD-沟通联系存在于：（a）个体的PTSD症状与他们对伴侣要求/自我退缩沟通的感知之间，同时考虑到与对自己情绪的恐惧的关联；以及（b）男性的PTSD症状与女性感知到的伴侣要求/自我退缩沟通之间，同时考虑到与女性对自己情绪的恐惧的关联。PTSD症状较重的男性还报告了更高水平的自我要求/伴侣退缩沟通（β = 0.28），且与他们对情绪的恐惧无关。针对PTSD的基于夫妻的治疗方法，若能促进情绪耐受性，并对PTSD症状与每个伴侣对男性要求/女性退缩沟通模式的感知之间的性别差异保持敏感，可能会改善创伤幸存者的关系功能，并增加关系作为PTSD康复渠道的可能性。
