Personality traits, trauma exposure timing, and post-traumatic stress symptoms in later life

Understanding posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in older adults is often complex, given decades of mental health history and prevalence of lifetime trauma exposure. Incorporating pervasive and long-standing personality traits (general and pathological) may be a useful framework for further understanding PTSS in later life. Additionally, the amount and developmental timing of trauma exposure may also influence these relationships, which this study sought to examine. This study examined the impact of personality traits and the timing of traumatic exposure on late life PTSS.

Participants consisted of trauma-exposed older adults (n = 185) who completed self-report questionnaires on trauma history, PTSS, and both general and pathological personality traits.

Hierarchical regression results revealed that the general personality trait domains of neuroticism and extraversion and the pathological personality trait domains of psychoticism and detachment were most strongly related to PTSS, in expected directions. Additionally, the amount of traumatic events experienced in young adulthood was significantly related to PTSS with small-medium effect sizes. However, trauma exposures in young adulthood did not moderate relationships between personality traits and PTSS.

Findings highlight the usefulness of considering personality traits when understanding, assessing, and treating older adults with PTSS. Clinical implications are discussed.