Emotions and emotion regulation in survivors of childhood sexual abuse: the importance of “disgust” in traumatic stress and psychopathology

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and population characteristics

Factor	Level/units	Mean or N (sd or %) n=109
Age		35.5 (9.9)
Sex	Males	15 (13.8%)
	Females	85 (78%)
	Missing values	9 (8.3%)
Education	Basic education	42 (38.5%)
	Higher education	70 (45.8%)
	Missing values	17 (15.6%)
Employment	Full/part-time	40 (36.7%)
	Unemployed/retired/other	63 (57.8%)
	Missing values	6 (5.5%)
Marital status	Married/cohabiting	37 (35.0%)
	Divorced/single	65 (59.6%)
	Missing values	7 (6.4%)
Living arrangements	Alone	37 (33.9%)
	With others	66 (60.6%)
	Missing values	6 (5.5%)

Table 2 Means (sds) of emotion-related measures administered

Emotion measure	Mean (sd)	Symptom measure	Mean (sd)
BES—Weekly		PCL
Anger	4.67 (1.2)
Sad	4.63 (1.3)	Re-experience (Criterion B)	18.2 (5)
Disgust	4.64 (1.6)	Avoidance (Criterion C)	25.6 (5.9)
Fear	5.51 (1.1)	Hyperarousal (Criterion D)	18.1 (4.3)
Happy	3.25 (1.2)	Total	61.9 (13.4)
BES—General
Anger	4.93 (1.2)
Sad	4.78 (1.3)	CORE
Disgust	4.77 (1.6)	Subjective well-being	3.0 (0.7)
Fear	5.70 (1.0)	Problems/symptoms	2.9 (0.8)
Happy	3.50 (1.3)	Functioning	2.4 (0.7)
BES—Coping		Risk	1.3 (0.9)
Anger	4.97 (1.2)	Global distress	2.5 (0.7)
Sad	5.12 (1.1)	Non-risk items	2.7 (0.7)
Disgust	5.31 (1.2)
Fear	5.50 (1.0)
Happy	3.33 (1.5)
REQ
External functional	2.30 (0.8)
Internal functional	2.50 (0.7)
External dysfunctional	2.10 (0.9)
Internal dysfunctional	3.5 (0.7)

BES=Basic Emotions Scale; REQ=Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire.

Table 3 Predicting post-traumatic symptomatology from “trait” emotions and emotion regulatory strategies

	Post-traumatic Checklist—Civilian Version
	PLC-total	Re-experiencing	Hyperarousal	Avoidance
Predictor	Beta	Beta	Beta	Beta
BES-G disgust	0.163	0.317***
BES-G sad	0.329**	0.205*	0.335***	0.344***
BES-G fear	0.242*	0.287**	0.228**	–
REQ external dysfunctional	0.161*	–	0.337***	–
Adj. R^2	0.445	0.445	0.415	26.9
F	20.81	27.44	24.43	19.19

BES-G=Basic Emotions Scale—General; REQ=Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire.

* p<0.05;

** p<0.01;

*** p<0.001.

Table 4 Significant predictors of general psychopathology on the CORE from “state” emotions and emotion regulatory strategies—final model

	CORE
	Global distress	Global distress-risk	Problems	Subjective well-being	Functioning	Risk
Predictor	Beta	Beta	Beta	Beta	Beta	Beta
BES-W disgust	0.137	0.201*		0.174	0.203**	0.168
BES-W happy	−.261***	−.248***	−.223**	−.329***	−.179*
BES-W sad	0.293***	0.273**	0.239*	0.211*	0.301***
BES-W fear			0.184*
REQ external functional					−.275***
REQ external dysfunctional	.195**	−.171*			0.217**	0.288**
Adj. R^2	0.581	0.528	0.488	0.460	0535	0.415
F	28.50	23.95	19.90	22.10	23.79	18.58

BES-W=Basic Emotions Scale Weekly; REQ=Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire; CORE=Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation.

* p<0.05;

** p<0.01;

*** p<0.001.