Personality Vulnerability, Low Social Support, and Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Under Ongoing Exposure to Terrorist Attacks

In two consecutive cross-sectional independent samples, we examined the relationship between the personality vulnerability dimensions of the trait Dependency and the trait Self-Criticism and the severity of traumatic stress-related mental health symptoms within a population of Israeli adults who had been directly exposed to ongoing rocket-fire on their homes in Sderot and other Gaza-Bordering Communities (GBC); a sample of individuals who had been indirectly exposed to these attacks served as a comparison group. Study 1 indicates significantly elevated levels of PTSD-Severity and stress in the GBC sample, as well as significant associations between Dependency and PTSD-Severity scores. In the indirectly exposed group, there were significant associations between Self-Criticism and PTSD-Severity scores. Study 2 confirmed these findings and also demonstrated that the associations between Dependency and PTSD-Severity and distress symptoms among individuals directly exposed to prolonged communal life-threatening situations are significantly mediated by low levels of perceived availability of social support and by increased use of maladaptive cognitive emotional regulation (MCER) response styles. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.