Effects of Trauma Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Perceived Social Support in Youth: A Longitudinal Investigation

Authors

Erin Logue
John Leri
Jeffrey D Shahidullah
Caitlin M Pinciotti
Paul J Rathouz
Josh M Cisler
D Jeffrey Newport
Karen Dineen Wagner
Charles B Nemeroff

Language

English

Publication Date

12-1-2024

Journal

Psychiatry Research

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116271

PMID

39571397

PMCID

PMC11818450

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

2-12-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine relationships among trauma burden, post-traumatic stress disorder, and perceived social support in a large, diverse group of trauma-exposed children and adolescents followed longitudinally. Specifically, we tested the social erosion hypothesis (i.e., mental health challenges negatively affect the quality of social relationships and contribute to reduced social support over time) using a sample of 1,829 trauma-exposed youth (aged 8-21) recruited through the multi-site Texas Childhood Trauma Research Network. Youth who reported more trauma burden (i.e., a greater number of traumas) perceived significantly lower levels of social support from family and peers, and those with more interpersonal trauma perceived significantly lower levels of social support from all sources, after controlling for multiple demographic variables and psychiatric comorbidities. Notably, the negative associations between trauma and perceived social support were most prominent among individuals without a PTSD diagnosis. Trauma burden was not associated with declines in perceived social support over a 12-month period. Additionally, in these trauma-exposed youth, being assigned female at birth was positively associated with perceived support from family members and negatively associated with perceived social support from a close friend. These findings extend our understanding of how trauma and PTSD independently predict and interact to predict perceived social support.

Keywords

Humans, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Female, Male, Adolescent, Social Support, Longitudinal Studies, Child, Young Adult, Adult, Texas, Psychological Trauma, Childhood trauma, Interpersonal trauma, Adverse childhood experiences, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Social support, Early life adversity

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Logue, Erin; Leri, John; Shahidullah, Jeffrey D; et al., "Effects of Trauma Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Perceived Social Support in Youth: A Longitudinal Investigation" (2024). Faculty and Staff Publications. 6070.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/6070