Self-reported executive dysfunction predicts COVID-19 traumatic stress: A prospective study

Although executive dysfunction has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there remains a paucity of prospective research along these lines. Given that emerging research has shown that traumatic stress symptoms are commonly observed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the present longitudinal study examined the extent to which self-reported prepandemic executive dysfunction uniquely predicted subsequent COVID-related traumatic stress over 15 weeks of the pandemic.

Community adults (N = 336) who completed measures of executive dysfunction, attentional control, and distress intolerance in 2016 as part of a larger study were contacted at the start of the pandemic (March 2020) and assessed for COVID-related traumatic stress symptoms every 2 weeks for 30 weeks.

Although bivariate correlations revealed that executive dysfunction and attentional control were significantly correlated with the latent slope (i.e., trajectory) of traumatic stress symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the predictors were uniquely associated with the latent slope of COVID-related traumatic stress symptoms in a latent growth curve model. Executive dysfunction, attentional control, and distress intolerance were also associated with an increased latent intercept for traumatic stress symptoms. However, only executive dysfunction uniquely predicted an increased latent intercept for traumatic stress symptoms after accounting for the effects of other predictors.

These findings highlight that self-reported deficits in executive dysfunction prior to the pandemic uniquely predicted risk of experiencing traumatic stress symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings have important implications for preventing adverse trauma reactions in future pandemics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).