(PS13-91) Emotion Dysregulation and Rumination Mediate the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and PTSD Symptomology

Background: Previous research offers robust support of the reciprocal relationship between perceived stress and posttraumatic stress symptoms in trauma-exposed individuals (Qu et al., 2012). Perceived stress may even represent a dispositional risk factor for the development of PTSD following a traumatic experience (Stein & Seedat, 2009). Multiple studies explore psychological variables that influence this relationship, including rumination (Hu et al., 2014; Brown et al., 2021) and emotion dysregulation (Xue et al., 2022), but few consider such maladaptive cognitive and emotional processes simultaneously. The impetus for doing so is strong, as rumination and emotion dysregulation may interact (Kos Yalvac & Gaynor, 2021). To address this knowledge gap, the current study sought to explore the potential mediation of the relationship between perceived stress and PTSD symptoms by rumination and emotion dysregulation in parallel to understand their relative contributions to this relationship.

Method: Participants included trauma-exposed college students (N = 115; 71.3% Female; 81.7% White,) ages 18-33 years (M = 19.40 years, SD = 1.99) in the northeastern United States. All participants completed the following self-report measures as part of a comprehensive battery to assess their current psychological functioning: Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS), Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire (RTSQ), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5). Parallel mediation was analyzed with PROCESS Version 4.2 (model 4) for IBM SPSS Statistics

Results: The overall mediation model was significant [F(1, 104) = 48.98, p < .001, adjusted R² = .32]. Rumination (β = .17, t = 1.88, p = .06) was not a significant predictor in the model of PTSD symptoms. However, emotion dysregulation was significant (β = .67, t = 5.12, p < .001) in predicting PTSD symptoms. The total effect observed in the model was significant (c= 1.641, SE = .234, t = 6.998, p < .001, 95% CI = [1.176, 2.106]). The observed indirect effect of rumination was not significant (ab = .101, SE = .059, 95% CI = [-.003, .229]), but the observed indirect effect of emotion dysregulation (ab = .556, SE = .111, 95% CI = [.341, .772]), indicating a full mediation of the relationship between perceived stress and PTSD symptoms (c’ = -.263, SE = .366, t = -.720, p = .473, 95% CI = [-.988, .462]).

Discussion: Results of this study indicate that emotion dysregulation plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between perceived stress and PTSD symptoms. However, rumination did not emerge as a significant mediator. If replicated in both diverse and clinical samples, this research may implicate emotion dysregulation as a key intervention target for trauma-exposed individuals with high perceived stress. These results converge with prior research, as improved emotion regulation capabilities decrease academic and perceived stress in trauma-exposed individuals (Cherry & Wilcox, 2020). This study also elucidates the respective roles of emotion dysregulation and rumination in the pathway from perceived stress to PTSD symptoms, clearly indicating the more prominent role of the former.