Influence of PTSD symptom clusters on smoking status among help-seeking Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Despite the strong association between smoking and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mechanisms influencing smoking in this population remain unclear. Previous smoking research has largely examined PTSD as a homogenous syndrome despite the fact that PTSD is composed of four distinct symptom clusters (i.e., reexperiencing, effortful avoidance, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal). Examination of the relationship between smoking and PTSD symptom clusters may increase understanding of mechanisms influencing comorbidity between smoking and PTSD. The goals of the present study were to (a) examine the influence of overall PTSD symptom severity on likelihood of smoking and smoking heaviness and (b) examine the influence of each PTSD symptom cluster on smoking.

Methods<

SUBMITTER: Cook J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2766767 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature