Back to TTM ResultsPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms have detrimental affects on individuals and their interpersonal relationships (e.g., Dekel, Goldblatt, Keidar, Solomon, & Polliack, 2005; Riggs, Byrne, Weathers, & Litz, 1998). Despite a growing interest in how PTSD symptoms affect relationships, there is limited research examining the paths, or mechanisms, of this link. Given that PTSD symptoms affect people’s beliefs about safety and worries about relationships (e.g., Stewart, 1996), it seems plausible that PTSD symptoms lead to attachment insecurity, which may be one mechanism linking PTSD symptoms and relationship satisfaction. An alternative is that attachment security protects relationship functioning against the negative effects of PTSD symptoms (Liem & Boudewyn, 1999).
Attachment Security
Attachment security reflects the degree to which individuals feel comfortable with intimacy, are free of worry about the availability of relationships partners, and are able to rely on others for help and support when needed. If you would like to learn more about attachment theory, see this website developed by Dr. R. Chris Fraley: http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD and severity of PTSD symptoms are associated with difficulties with intimacy, lower relationship satisfaction, poor communication, and greater steps to separation (e.g., Cook, Riggs, Thompson, Coyne, & Sheikh, 2004; Gold, Taft, Keehn, King, King, & Samper, 2007). Relationship quality may be impaired following PTSD symptoms because people may be less able to manage distressing emotions. This leads to emotional instability, problems inhibiting the expression of strong emotions, and difficulty ending unhappy mood states without coping through avoidance. Coping through avoidance to reduce feelings of anxiety and the distressing emotions associated with PTSD serves a function, but such a strategy can also result in difficulties in relationships with others (Briere, 1996). If you would like to learn more about PTSD, please see the Canadian Mental Health Association website: http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=3-94-97
We proposed that people who experienced trauma and PTSD symptoms would be more likely to experience attachment insecurity (i.e., worries about relationship partners, fears of rejection, and avoidance of intimacy). This could happen because trauma and PTSD symptoms might disrupt primary attachment relationships with parents or romantic partners, and result in threats to beliefs about others and oneself (Dieperink, Leskela, Thuras, & Engdahl, 2001; Muller, Sicoli, & Lemieux, 2000). In turn, attachment insecurity was expected to lead to marital dissatisfaction in the current relationship.
Another possibility is that attachment security serves as a protective factor. Although it is possible that trauma and subsequent symptoms of PTSD may disrupt attachment relationships (e.g., the parent-child relationship), that may not necessarily be the case. People who have experienced close, caring, and sensitive relationships with important others throughout their life are likely to be more secure and may have a resiliency in the face of trauma and challenges. Attachment security may protective because it leads to more support seeking, or use of more adaptive coping strategies following trauma, which then buffers the effect of PTSD symptoms on subsequent relationship functioning.
Current Study
In 163 couples from the Transition to Marriage Project who provided sufficient data, we investigated how PSTD symptoms, attachment security, and marital satisfaction were related over the first year of marriage. We expected that PTSD symptoms would be negatively related to attachment security and marital satisfaction, and that attachment security would be positively related to marital satisfaction.
Results and Conclusions
Contrary to our expectations, attachment insecurity was not a path by which PTSD symptoms affected marital satisfaction. However, as we expected, for husbands who were more secure, PTSD symptoms had a less negative effect on their relationship satisfaction than when they were less secure. We did not find the same result for wives. Thus, attachment security served as a buffer for husbands; PTSD symptoms pose less risk for marital distress if husbands are more secure.
Acknowledgements
A manuscript based on this research is under revision for publication. This research is based on Mandana Sharifi’s Master’s Thesis and was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Standard Research Grant #410-2005-0829 to the Dr. Rebecca J. Cobb. The authors thank Dr. Faith Auton-Cuff and Dr. Kim Bartholomew for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper, members of the SFU Close Relationships Research Lab for assistance with data collection, and the couples who participated in this research.