The Influence of Victimization History on PTSD Symptom Expression in Women Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Repeated exposure to victimization, including instances of intimate partner violence (IPV), is associated with increased psychological distress generally and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity specifically. Although most research has focused on increases in PTSD symptoms broadly, in the current study we tested the hypothesis that the context in which victimization occurs will be uniquely linked to severity of specific PTSD symptoms. For example, multiple instances of victimization by different perpetrators, defined here as revictimization, may lead to different psychological consequences than repeated victimization by the same perpetrator, defined here as chronic victimization. In the current study, we examined associations between individual PTSD symptoms and revictimization and chronic victimization in a sample of 236 ethnically diverse women recruited following exposure to police reported IPV. When looking at individual symptoms, revictimization (and not chronic victimization) predicted symptoms associated with “passive” avoidance or emotional numbing, whereas chronic victimization (and not revictimization) predicted symptoms associated with “active” avoidance. The findings suggest that particular forms of victimization may correspond with specific PTSD symptoms.