Inhibitory Control Moderates the Intervention Effects of a Preventive Parenting Program on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among Male Service Members

AbstractMilitary servicemembers face substantial challenges due to war-related trauma exposure, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Individuals with deficits in inhibitory control (IC) may have an increased risk of developing PTSD due to a reduced ability to regulate their cognitive responses to and disengage from trauma-related stimuli. After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) is a mindfulness-infused parenting program for military families that has also been found to have crossover effects on parental mental health. The present study examined whether fathers ’ IC at baseline affected their response to this emotional skills–focused intervention and further influenced their PTSD symptoms 1 year later. The sample included 282 male National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) service members who had recently been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Fathers were rando mly assigned to either the ADAPT program or a control condition, with IC measured at baseline and PTSD symptoms measured at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed no significant main effect of the intervention on fathers’ PTSD symptoms. However, fathers’ IC moderated in tervention effects on PTSD symptoms,f2 = 0.03. The intervention had more beneficial effects on reducing fathers ’ PTSD symptoms for participants with low IC at baseline. These findings are consistent with compensatory effects in the risk moderation hypothesis, which suggests that prevention or intervention...
Source: Journal of Traumatic Stress - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research