Journal of anxiety disorders
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Studies have identified coping processes as one potential factor influencing PTSD in veterans. This study examined the associations between coping, combat exposure, and PTSD among 218 National Guard veterans deployed overseas since 2001. ⋯ Moreover, the severity of combat was a curvilinear moderator of the relation between coping process and PTSD, such that EFC was unrelated to PTSD symptom severity at low levels of combat, associated with higher symptom severity at moderate levels of combat, and associated with lower symptom severity at high levels of combat. These findings indicate that the type and severity of trauma may moderate the association of coping and psychological outcomes, and that these associations might not be linear.