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Personal and Interpersonal Factors Moderate the Relation Between Human-Made Trauma and Hypertension: A Path Analysis
Achille M Bapolisi1, Pierre Maurage, Coralie M G Georges
1From the Adult Psychiatry Department and Institute of Neuroscience, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc(Bapolisi, Petit, de Timary), Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; Université Catholique de Bukavu and Hôpital Provincial Général de Bukavu (Bapolisi, Balola, Cikomola), Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo; Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (Maurage, Rime, Philippot), UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve; Division of Cardiology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc (Georges, Persu), Université Catholique de Louvain; and Pole of Cardiovascular Research, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique (Persu), Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Background:
Although the link between trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and hypertension is established, its underlying mechanisms remain underexplored.
Objective:
This study tested a theoretical model exploring the moderating influence of psychological (emotion regulation) and interpersonal (social support) factors on the mediation between trauma and hypertension, through PTSD.
Methods:
We measured these variables through self-reported questionnaire on 212 patients, recruited from internal medicine in a general hospital of Bukavu, a region affected by more than 25 years of armed conflicts. We first evaluated the PTSD mediation in the absence of moderators, before testing each moderator using moderated path analysis.
Results:
Results showed that PTSD partially mediates the relationship between human-made trauma and hypertension, whereas social support and maladaptive emotion regulation moderate the relationship between human-made trauma and PTSD.
Conclusions:
The relationship between human-made trauma, PTSD, and hypertension might be modulated by psychological and interpersonal factors, which paves the way for new interventions targeting emotion regulation and social support to reduce PTSD and hypertension in populations exposed to human-made violence.
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