Risk Factors for Traumatic Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

This study explored the role of personality traits in the risk for exposure to a traumatic event and the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). It also measured the contribution of subjective experience of the traumatic event to PTSS. Of 1,360 BA students recruited from a major university in northern Israel, 367 (27%) reported a history of traumatic exposure. The findings indicate that individuals who scored high on neuroticism, while making the effort to avoid traumas, perceived and experienced traumatic exposures as a threat and hence were more susceptible to developing PTSS. In contrast, individuals who scored high on extraversion might be more prone to occurrences with a traumatic potential due to their tendency to undertake challenges, but were less apt to react in a posttraumatic manner.