Attention biases in female survivors of chronic interpersonal violence: relationship to trauma-related symptoms and physiology

Figures & data

Table 1 Descriptive statistics for baseline symptoms and trauma exposure assessed by self-report, reaction time and bias scores for the dot probe conditions, and baseline physiology

	M	SD	Min	Max
Self-report
DES	39.91	19.37	6.79	76.79
PCL total score	35.77	12.86	14.00	58.00
PCL intrusion	10.23	5.12	3.00	20.00
PCL avoidance	14.18	5.93	3.00	26.00
PCL hyperarousal	11.36	4.23	4.00	18.00
THQ trauma type count	11.23	5.56	5.00	25.00
THQ age at earliest trauma	6.78	5.97	0.00	22.00
Reaction time
Neutral	526.23	151.14	339.42	850.23
Positive	503.29	143.22	337.94	823.64
Anxiety	514.60	150.65	327.82	841.23
IPV threat	518.36	159.28	339.53	888.65
Bias scores
Neutral	233.17	318.18	−116.16	1015.07
Positive	−14.20	62.96	−113.58	131.29
Anxiety	−246.89	111.22	−536.74	48.64
IPV threat	17.04	43.93	−132.83	92.36
Physiology
Baseline HR	62.29	15.51	43.29	105.57
Baseline RSA	0.07	0.08	0.01	0.38
Baseline SCL	4.20	1.78	0.74	7.95

Note: PCL values are presented here as symptom intensity total scores. THQ trauma type data represent a raw count of the number of different types of traumas participants endorsed over their lifespan. Bias score and reaction time data are presented in milliseconds.

DES=dissociative experiences scale; PCL=PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version; THQ=trauma history questionnaire; IPV=interpersonal violence; HR=heart rate (BPM); RSA=respiratory sinus arrhythmia (arbitrary units); SCL=skin conductance level (microSiemens).

Table 2 Post-hoc paired-samples t-tests for bias scores from the 4 dot probe conditions

Comparison	t(df)	p
Neutral–positive	3.33(20)	0.003
Neutral–anxiety	6.50(19)	0.000
Neutral–IPV	2.99(20)	0.007
Positive–anxiety	8.33(25)	0.000
Positive–IPV	−2.49(26)	0.020
Anxiety–IPV	−11.19(25)	0.000

IPV=interpersonal violence.

Table 3 Zero-order correlations for study variables

	Symptoms					Trauma		Bias			Physiology
	Intrus	Avoid	Hyper	Sum	DES	Age	No. of exposures	Pos	Anx	IPV	HR	RSA	SCL
Symptoms
Intrusion	–	0.42	0.60	0.77	−0.01	0.20	0.20	0.01	0.40+	−0.37+	0.14	−0.39+	−0.32
Avoidance		–	0.69	0.85	0.28	−0.19	−0.19	0.22	0.21	−0.39+	0.22	−0.50	0.01
Hyperarousal			–	0.88	0.34	−0.06	−0.06	0.01	−0.07	−0.33	0.04	−0.17	−0.10
PCL Sum				–	0.13	0.10	−0.06	0.10	0.18	−0.43	0.18	−0.41+	−0.20
DES					–	−0.29	0.55	0.11	0.17	−0.34	−0.15	−0.11	−0.38+
Trauma
Age, 1st trauma						–	−0.32	0.04	0.34	0.04	0.42	−0.30	0.20
No. of exposures							–	0.06	0.27	−0.12	−0.44	−0.01	−0.25
Bias
Positive								–	0.11	0.32	0.42	0.08	−0.18
Anxiety									–	−0.05	−0.34	−0.45	0.53
IPV										–	0.08	0.05	−0.01

Note: Significant correlations (p<0.05) are bolded.

+ Indicates marginal significance (p<0.10). Neutral bias scores are intentionally omitted for the convenience of the reader, but nonetheless there were no significant or marginal correlations between neutral bias scores and self-report.

Intrusion=PCL intrusion total score; avoidance=PCL avoidance total score; hyperarousal=PCL hyperarousal total score; sum and PCL sum=PCL total score; DES=DES total score; age, 1st trauma=age at first reported trauma; No. of exposures=number of different types of trauma participants reported experiencing; IPV=interpersonal violence; HR=heart rate; RSA=respiratory sinus arrhythmia; SCL=skin conductance level.