Rejection sensitivity and vulnerable attachment: associations with social support and PTSD symptoms in trauma survivors

Figures & data

Figure 1. A proposed model of the relationship between rejection sensitivity, social support, attachment styles, and PTSD symptoms. + indicates positive relationship, − indicates negative relationships.

Figure 2. A flow chart summarizing the participants included in the study.

Table 1. The descriptive statistics for the measured variables

	M	SD	Min	Max
RSQ-A (1–49)	15.47	7.15	2.78	43.89
VASQ (22–110)	66.06	10.91	38.00	98.00
MSPSS (1–7)	5.02	1.29	1.00	7.00
PCL-5 (0–80)	32.96	19.14	0.00	71.00

RSQ-A = Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire-Adult Version; VASQ = Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire; MSPSS = Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support; PCL-5 = PTSD Checklist for DSM-5.

Table 2. The zero-order correlation analysis between the measured variables

Variable	1	2	3	4
1. Rejection sensitivity (RSQ-A)	-
2. Vulnerable attachment style (VASQ)	0.37**	-
3. Social support (MSPSS)	−0.44**	−0.32**	-
4. PTSD severity (PCL-5)	0.50**	0.54**	−0.45**	-

RSQ-A=Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire-Adult Version; VASQ = Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire; MSPSS = Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support; PCL-5 = PTSD Checklist for DSM-5.

Table 3. The summary of regression analysis where PCL-5 was a dependent variable

	b [95% Confidence Intervals]	SE b	β	p
Step 1
Constant	−29.03 [−44.38, −13.68]	7.76		<.001
Rejection Sensitivity (RSQ-A)	0.94 [0.56, 1.32]	0.19	0.35	<.001
Vulnerable Attachment Styles (VASQ)	0.72 [0.47, 0.97]	0.13	0.41	<.001
Step 2
Constant	−6.40 [−28.45, 15.65]	11.15		0.57
Rejection Sensitivity (RSQ-A)	0.74 [0.34, 1.13]	0.20	0.28	<.001
Vulnerable Attachment Styles (VASQ)	0.65 [0.41, 0.90]	0.12	0.37	<.001
Social Support (MSPSS)	−3.02 [−5.18, −0.86]	1.09	−0.20	.006

R² = .40 for step 1; ∆R² = .03 for step 2 (p = .006).

Figure 3. Standardized regression coefficients for the relationship between vulnerable attachment style and PTSD symptoms as mediated by rejection sensitivity and perceived social support. *p < .05, **p < .001.

Data availability statement

The data associated with this study are available at the University of Exeter Repository website at https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.3323 and upon request from the author.