Tonic Immobility in Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors and Its Relationship to Posttraumatic Stress Symptomatology

Past research has shown that 37% to 52% of sexual assault survivors report experiencing a set of peritraumatic responses, which include gross motor inhibition, analgesia, and fixed or unfocused staring. This response set closely resembles a set of unconditioned responses, collectively known as Tonic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of interpersonal violence 2010-02, Vol.25 (2), p.358-373
Main Authors: Humphreys, Kathryn L., Sauder, Colin L., Martin, Elaine K., Marx, Brian P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Child
Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology
Child Abuse, Sexual - statistics & numerical data
Child Sexual Abuse
Childhood
Children
Fear
Fear & phobias
Fear - psychology
Female
Females
Humans
Immobility Response, Tonic
Middle Aged
Post traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Psychomotor Skills
Questionnaires
Responses
Self Disclosure
Severity (of Disability)
Severity of Illness Index
Sex crimes
Sexual Abuse
Sexual Assault
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Students - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Survivor
Survivors - psychology
Survivors - statistics & numerical data
Symptoms
Symptoms (Individual Disorders)
Undergraduate Students
United States - epidemiology
Urban Population - statistics & numerical data
Victims
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Past research has shown that 37% to 52% of sexual assault survivors report experiencing a set of peritraumatic responses, which include gross motor inhibition, analgesia, and fixed or unfocused staring. This response set closely resembles a set of unconditioned responses, collectively known as Tonic Immobility (TI). This study examined TI among childhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivors and its relation to PTSD symptomatology. Participants were 131 female college undergraduates who completed questionnaires assessing sexual abuse history, TI, and PTSD symptom severity. Results showed that TI partially mediated the relation between peritraumatic fear and overall PTSD symptom severity and completely mediated the relation between fear and the PTSD reexperiencing symptoms. Although peritraumatic fear is associated with TI, the mediation findings provide evidence for the notion that these responses are separate from one another. These results suggest that TI during CSA may play an important role in the subsequent PTSD symptomatology in adulthood.
ISSN:0886-2605
1552-6518
DOI:10.1177/0886260509334412