Gender, Population Type, and Coping as Predictors of PTSD Symptom Severity

Research has demonstrated that a salient predictor of PTSD is experiencing a traumatic event. Additional research has indicated that there are other risk factors involved with predicting the development of PTSD including gender, population type, and emotion-focused coping. The purpose of the current study was to examine gender, population type, the interaction effect between gender and population type, and emotion-focused coping, specifically avoidant emotional coping and active emotional coping, as independent predictors of PTSD symptom severity. In total, 124 individuals participated in the current study. The sample consisted of 64 civilians and 60 military personnel. The results indicated that gender and avoidant emotional coping were significant predictors of PTSD symptom severity. Population type, active emotional coping, and the interaction of gender and population type were not significant predictors of PTSD symptom severity. Implications are discussed