(PS13-79) Associations Between Anxiety Sensitivity and PTSD Symptom Clusters in the Immediate Aftermath of Sexual Assault

Background: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a hypothesized risk factor for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), including among sexual assault survivors. PTSD symptoms are heterogeneous and include(1) reexperiencing, (2) avoidance, (3) negative alterations in cognitions and mood (NACM), and (4) alterations in arousal and reactivity (AAR). While the positive relationship between these two variables has been demonstrated consistently in literature, there exists a gap in research immediately posttrauma and regarding which specific PTS symptoms are related to high AS.

Understanding associations between AS and PTSD symptom clusters could lead to increased precision in treatment and potentially  improve treatment outcomes for an already vulnerable population. Thus, we assessed which PTSD symptom clusters would be associated with total AS scores, hypothesizing that AS would be significantly  associated with reexperiencing and AAR symptoms after covarying for lifetime trauma exposures.

Methods: 56 women sexual assault survivors presenting for emergency care at 2 sites in the Better Tomorrow Network participated in surveys regarding symptomology during their emergency care visits. PTSD symptoms were measured using the PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5), while AS was measured using the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3). To measure the number of traumatic events experienced, the number of traumas endorsed on the Life Experience Checklist for the DSM-5 (LEC-5) was summed.

Results: Four separate multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate associations between total AS scores and PTSD symptom clusters, covarying for the number of traumas experienced. Number of traumas experienced was only significantly associate with AAR symptoms (β=.28, t=2.27, p=.027, sr2 =.08; all other ps >.168). AS was significantly associated with reexperiencing (β=.33, t=2.61, p=.012, sr2=.11), NACM (β=.38, t=3.12, p=.003, sr2=.15), and AAR (β=.30, t=2.42, p=.019, sr2=.09) symptom clusters. AS was not significantly associated with avoidance symptoms (β=.19, t=1.45, p=.153, sr2=.04).

Conclusion: Our findings support the hypothesis that AS can significantly predict reexperiencing and AAR symptoms of PTSD, as well as NACM symptoms, accounting for 9-15% of variance within these symptom clusters. This finding expands on prior literature which has not yet assessed these relationships immediately posttrauma, and suggests that survivors with high AS are particularly prone to develop greater reexperiencing, NACM, and AAR symptoms in the aftermath of their experiences. Future research should assess these relationships among survivors of different traumatic events to determine if they are generalizable beyond sexual assault survivors, as well as expand data collect in a longitudinal design to assess long-term consequences of AS on PTSD symptomology.