TY - JOUR
T1 - Negative Posttraumatic Cognitions About Self Potentially Mediate the Relation Between Sexual Revictimization and Suicide Risk in a Sample of Military Sexual Assault Survivors
AU - Xu, Bingyu
AU - Blais, Rebecca K.
AU - Tannahill, Hallie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 American Psychological Association
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Objective: Military sexual trauma (MST) is a risk factor for suicide among service members/veterans. Research reported that around half of MST survivors were exposed to pre-MST, making MST a revictimization experience. Unfortunately, little is known about mechanisms of the association between revictimization and suicide risk among MST survivors. One possible mechanism is posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs), which include the survivor’s (a) negative cognitions about themselves, (b) negative cognitions about the world, and (c) self-blame. The current study examined each of the PTC subscales as potential mediators of the association between sexual revictimization and suicide risk. Method: Participants were 383 service members/veterans reporting a history of MST that involved assault (50.65% female). Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographics, suicide risk, history of sexual victimization (MST and premilitary sexual victimization), and PTCs. Of these, 340 (88.8%) reported a history of MST and premilitary victimization and comprised the revictimization group. Results: Parallel mediation analysis with suicide risk regressed on each of the PTCs subscales and covariates revealed that negative cognitions about self had a significant indirect effect on the association between revictimization and higher suicide risk, above and beyond negative cognitions about the world and self-blame. Conclusions: Targeting negative cognitions about self among sexual revictimization survivors may be a therapeutic strategy to reduce suicide risk most effectively. Cognitive processing therapy may be particularly useful given the focus on altering PTCs.
AB - Objective: Military sexual trauma (MST) is a risk factor for suicide among service members/veterans. Research reported that around half of MST survivors were exposed to pre-MST, making MST a revictimization experience. Unfortunately, little is known about mechanisms of the association between revictimization and suicide risk among MST survivors. One possible mechanism is posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs), which include the survivor’s (a) negative cognitions about themselves, (b) negative cognitions about the world, and (c) self-blame. The current study examined each of the PTC subscales as potential mediators of the association between sexual revictimization and suicide risk. Method: Participants were 383 service members/veterans reporting a history of MST that involved assault (50.65% female). Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographics, suicide risk, history of sexual victimization (MST and premilitary sexual victimization), and PTCs. Of these, 340 (88.8%) reported a history of MST and premilitary victimization and comprised the revictimization group. Results: Parallel mediation analysis with suicide risk regressed on each of the PTCs subscales and covariates revealed that negative cognitions about self had a significant indirect effect on the association between revictimization and higher suicide risk, above and beyond negative cognitions about the world and self-blame. Conclusions: Targeting negative cognitions about self among sexual revictimization survivors may be a therapeutic strategy to reduce suicide risk most effectively. Cognitive processing therapy may be particularly useful given the focus on altering PTCs.
KW - military
KW - military sexual trauma
KW - posttraumatic cognition
KW - revictimization
KW - suicide
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85188505692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85188505692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/tra0001656
DO - 10.1037/tra0001656
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85188505692
SN - 1942-9681
JO - Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
JF - Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
ER -