Emotional Dysregulation and Worry as Mediators between Stressful Life Events and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Adult Mexican Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction. Women experience numerous episodes of adverse events, often linked to violence, which create emotional difficulties that contribute to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, more research is required to understand the nature of post-traumatic reactions and the underlying psycho-emotional processes. Objective. To determine whether emotional dysregulation and worry mediate the relationship between the experience of stressful events and post-traumatic stress symptoms in a sample of adult Mexican women seeking online psychological treatment. Method. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a non-probabilistic sample of 687 women ages 18 to 76. Results. The data show that emotional dysregulation mediated the relationship between the type of trauma and post-traumatic stress symptoms for illness- and death-related events, but not for other types of stressors, whereas worry mediated the association between sexual and physical assault and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Discussion and conclusion. This study contributes to current psychopathology models focused on the transdiagnostic perspective. The findings may guide interventions targeting emotion regulation and worry as modifiable risk factors for the development of post-traumatic stress.