Effects of multiple concurrent interpersonal traumas on post traumatic stress disorder symptomology

The study examined the effects of multiple interpersonal traumas (incurred simultaneously) on severity of PTSD symptoms; as demonstrated by the literature on the dose-effect relationship for PTSD, greater reports of interpersonal trauma, were hypothesized to lead to more severe PTSD symptomology. The 267 participants, were all Liberian war refugees living in Ghana, West Africa. Regression analysis was utilized to examine the contributions of interpersonal traumas (posttraumatic diagnostic scale), age, gender and marital status to PTSD symptoms (Impact of Event Scale). Interpersonal trauma was the strongest predictor, (β = .21, t(138) = 2.45, p < .05) of PTSD severity, which was supportive of the hypothesis.