Trait Dissociation Predicts Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in a Prospective Study of Urban Police Officers

Abstract

The current study prospectively examines the predictive relationship of trait dissociation, assessed during academy training, to PTSD symptoms assessed at 12 months of active police duty in relatively young and healthy police academy recruits (N = 180). The roles of pre-academy trauma exposure, exposure to life-threatening critical incidents during police duty, and peritraumatic dissociation at the time of the officer’s worst critical incident were also examined. Utilizing path analytic techniques, greater trait dissociation, assessed during academy training, was predictive of both peritraumatic dissociation, and PTSD symptoms assessed at 12 months of police service. Moreover, after accounting for trait dissociation and peritraumatic dissociation, the relationship of previous trauma to later PTSD symptoms was no longer significant, demonstrating that the effect of previous trauma on later vulnerability to PTSD symptoms in this sample may be mediated by both trait and peritraumatic dissociation.

Anger, dissociation, and PTSD among male veterans entering into PTSD treatment

“…Peritraumatic and trait dissociation, in particular, have been examined as potential predictors of PTSD with mixed results (McCaslin et al, 2008; for full review of peritraumatic dissociation, see van der Velden & Wittmann, 2008). Increased dissociative symptoms both during and after trauma exposure are related to higher prevalence and increased severity of PTSD in military and civilian participants (e.g., Bremner & Brett, 1997;Dancu, Riggs, Hearst-Ikeda, Shoyer, & Foa, 1996).…”

“…Dissociation is commonly defined as difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and experiences into consciousness and memory (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986). Peritraumatic and trait dissociation, in particular, have been examined as potential predictors of PTSD with mixed results (McCaslin et al, 2008; for full review of peritraumatic dissociation, see van der Velden & Wittmann, 2008).…”

“…The DES (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) is a 28-item, self-report questionnaire asking respondents to rate the percentage of time (0-100%) they experience a variety of dissociative experiences. The DES has strong test-retest reliability reported between r = 0.79 (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) and r = 0.96 (Frischholz et al, 1990) and an internal consistency of 0.95 (Frischholz et al, 1990).…”

Pre-deployment dissociation and personality as risk factors for post-deployment post-traumatic stress disorder in Danish soldiers deployed to Afghanistan

“…In recent years, research has highlighted the potential role of personality and behavioural predispositions as such pre-existing vulnerability factors for PTSD (Engelhard & van den Hout, 2007; JakšI, Brajkovi, Ivez, Topi, & Jakovljevi, 2012; Weinberg & Gil, 2016). One such potentially pre-existing vulnerability is dissociation (McCaslin et al, 2008; Murray, Ehlers, & Mayou, 2002). …”

“…Furthermore, we estimate the interaction effect between neuroticism and dissociation in the development of PTSD, and assess whether personality factors and the tendency to dissociate may represent independent risk factors for PTSD symptoms (Briere et al, 2005; McCaslin et al, 2008; Murray et al, 2002). We thus explore the influence of the Big Five personality traits (Costa & McCrae, 1992): extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience, measured before deployment, on pre-deployment dissociation and post-deployment PTSD.…”