The role of emotional inexpressivity and experiential avoidance in the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity and aggressive behavior among men exposed to interpersonal violence

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been found to be associated with aggressive behavior. Recent evidence suggests that the ways in which individuals respond to their emotions may account for this relationship. In particular, to the extent that aggressive behaviors serve an emotion regulatory function, responding to emotions with avoidance (i.e., experiential avoidance) or the active suppression of emotional expression may heighten emotion dysregulation, increasing the risk for aggressive behavior as individuals attempt to regulate that dysregulated state. This study examined whether these two ways of responding to emotions account for the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and self-reported engagement in aggressive behavior among a diverse sample of 113 men with past exposure to interpersonal violence. Experiential avoidance and emotional inexpressivity each accounted for a significant amount of unique variance in aggressive behavior, above and beyond PTSD symptom severity and trait anger. Clinical and research implications of findings are discussed.