The goal of the proposed study is to advance our understanding of the psychological functioning of women who recently experienced a sexual assault. The investigation of the psychological functioning of individuals in the acute post-traumatic phase is essential for identifying targets of intervention in order to prevent more chronic post-traumatic maladjustment. Acute stress disorder (ASD, i.e. DSM-IV defined symptoms in the month following a trauma) has shown great potential in the identification of individuals at risk for PTSD. However, the emotional functioning of individuals in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic experience is not well understood. First, the primary aim of this investigation is to clarify the role of two factors, which have been shown to be important risk factors for PTSD symptomatology: social support and a history of prior traumatic experiences. Given the importance of emotional processing of traumatic memories, a structural model of relationships is proposed in which emotional expressivity, another variable negatively correlated with PTSD symptomatology, acts as both a moderator and a mediator in explaining the relationship between these factors and ASD severity. Second, this study explores the nature of acute post-traumatic emotional deficits. Specifically, it aims to better our understanding of whether decreased emotional experience, emotional avoidance and/or interpersonal withholding of emotions play a role in acute stress severity and emotional expressivity. Third, this study constitutes a prospective pilot investigation of the role of emotional expressivity and social support in the acute post-traumatic phase in predicting PTSD diagnosis at 3 months post-trauma. ? ?
