Attachment anxiety as a mediator of the relationship between interpersonal trauma and posttraumatic symptomatology among college women.

The identification of variables that mediate the relationship between traumatic life events and posttraumatic symptomatology could help elucidate underlying causal mechanisms and improve therapeutic intervention offered to individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress. The authors examined whether adult attachment, as measured by Brennan, Clark, and Shaver's Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory, mediates the relationship between a broad range of traumatic life events and posttraumatic symptomatology. Participants were 224 ethnically diverse college women. Path analysis indicated that attachment anxiety partially mediated the link between intimate partner violence and posttraumatic symptomatology, as well as the link between adolescent or adult sexual victimization and posttraumatic symptomatology. Attachment avoidance, although associated with posttraumatic stress, did not mediate the relationship between traumatic life events and PTSD symptoms.