UCLA

Trauma and its psychological consequences—including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the signature stress-related psychopathology—are linked with adverse mental, physical, and sexual health in women. Examining associations between trauma-related factors and pertinent health markers at discrete periods of the lifespan may reveal potential mechanisms and intervention targets. Toward that end, this dissertation utilized a three-study design to investigate associations between trauma and related psychopathology and relevant women’s health indicators during adolescence, the perinatal period, and midlife. Study 1 evaluated whether distinct dimensions of early life adversity—including threat (e.g., abuse) and deprivation (e.g., neglect)—were differentially linked with sexual behavior in a national sample of adolescents. While greater experiences of both threat and deprivation were linked with elevated odds of engagement in sex, experiences of threat were uniquely linked with diverse indicators of sexual risk behavior (e.g., earlier age at first sex, greater number of past-year partners, inconsistent condom use). Study 2 examined associations between couple-level manifestations of PTSD symptoms and maternal and paternal relationship functioning in a community-based sample of couples during the postpartum period. Using both data- and hypothesis-driven approaches, unique subgroups of couples—based on both partners’ PTSD symptoms—were identified, including dyads characterized by concordance in PTSD symptoms (e.g., both low) and discordance (e.g., mother low—father high, mother low—father high). Across the two dyad classification methods, couple-level PTSD manifestations were differentially linked with subjective and objective indicators of relationship functioning, with individuals in couples concordant in reporting low PTSD symptoms exhibiting the most optimal relationship health. Study 3 investigated the underlying dimensional structure of PTSD—and associations between emergent symptom dimensions and menopause-related health indicators—in a sample of midlife women veterans. PTSD was best captured by six symptom dimensions, with greater symptoms across all factors linked with urinary and vasomotor, but not vaginal, symptoms; negative affect and dysphoric arousal emerged as particularly relevant to these menopause- and aging-related symptoms. Greater PTSD symptoms across dimensions were also linked with markers of sexual dysfunction. Taken together, these studies emphasize the role of trauma-related factors on diverse women’s health metrics across the lifespan.