Social Goal Orientation Differentially Influences Exposure to Interpersonal and Noninterpersonal Trauma

Emerging adults are at an increased risk for trauma exposure, both interpersonal and non-interpersonal, which often occurs within a social context. How an individual interacts with this context may heighten or buffer against their risk for trauma. Social goal orientation represents individual differences that characterize how an individual navigates their social environment. These orientations fall along the two interacting dimensions, Agency and Communion. In a community sample (N=274; 55% female, average age = 18.9) of young adults, we sought to examine the role that these two types of social goals, both uniquely and in interaction with one another, may play in interpersonal and non-interpersonal trauma risk. Because men and women are at differential risk for trauma, we also examined the impact of gender on these associations. Findings revealed that social goal orientations are linked to trauma exposure in ways that differ depending on the type of trauma, interpersonal or non-interpersonal. Moreover, these processes differed for men and women. Whereas a high Communal Orientation was associated with decreased exposure to all trauma, for both women and men, Agentic Orientation was associated with an increased number of interpersonal and non-interpersonal trauma. For men, agency and communion interacted, suggesting that the extent to which an agentic orientation may be risky or protective for interpersonal trauma depends strongly on communal orientation. These findings provided initial evidence for the role social goal orientation may play as a risk or protective factor for trauma exposure.