The Role of Childhood Trauma, Time Perspective and Experiential Avoidance on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Applying of Structural Equation Modeling

Given the likelihood of recurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and the ineffectiveness of therapeutic approaches in the lasting improvement of the symptoms of this disorder, accurate identification of the factors involved in initiating and maintaining PTSD is of paramount importance. The aim of this study was to determine the role of childhood injuries, time perspective and experimental avoidance in post-traumatic stress disorder.

The subjects of the present descriptive-cross-sectional research were 131 patients with PTSD (72 females and 59 males) who were seeking treatment at the health centers of Shiraz in spring, summer, autumn and winter of 2018-2019, which were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the Structured Interview for Axis I and II disorders(SCID). The PTSD Checklist—5 (PCL-5), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire(CTQ), Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–II (AAQ-II) were used. Data were analyzed with the structural equation modeling(Correlation coefficients and regression) in Amos software (23-ver).

The results indicated that the proposed model was well fitted (CFI=0.95, GFI=0.92, TLI= 0.93, IFI= 0.95, NFI= 0.90, RMSEA= 0.07), and all of the direct and indirect path coefficients were significant at the alpha level of 0.01. So that time perspective and experiential avoidance significantly mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms. That relationship between childhood trauma, time perspective, experimental avoidance, and PTSD symptoms was significant. All variables (childhood trauma, time perspective, and experimental avoidance) were able to directly predict PTSD symptoms. Also, time perspective and experimental avoidance significantly mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms.

In sum, the results of the present study are consistent with the time perspective theory for PTSD and the conceptual model of this study, so that people who have been abused or rejected as children form a negative temporal perspective which in turn leads to the use of negative emotion regulation strategies to deal with negative emotions. The findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to consider the role of childhood trauma, experimental avoidance and time perspective in treatment protocols for people with PTSD.