Predicting changes in PTSD and depression among female intimate partner violence survivors during shelter residency: A longitudinal study.

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are comorbid consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV), and models explain this comorbidity via an intrinsic relationship between them. The current study posits that changes in both disorders may provide a clearer picture regarding the interrelations between them. We examined mutual contributions of changes in PTSD and depression to each other. The comorbidity was examined through known risk and protective factors related to both disorders among IPV survivors: perception of danger, helplessness, and peer support.
Method: Sample included 146 female IPV survivors residing in 12 shelters in Israel between September 2009 and April 2014. Self-report questionnaires were completed upon entrance to the shelter and before departure. Analysis included 2 regressions, in which the change-score dependent variable of the first appeared as a regressor in the second and vice versa.
Results: The regression designed to explore the contribution of changes in depression to PTSD-change explained 48% of the variance, while the regression designed to explore the contribution of changes in PTSD explained 67% of the variance. Changes in both PTSD (β = .14, p = .014) and depression (β = .014, p = .05) contributed similarly to changes in each other, suggesting covariance within IPV-related variables. In addition, the contribution of Arab ethnicity to changes in PTSD was significant.
Conclusions: The current study's contribution is in identifying covariance between PTSD and depression along time within the context of variables related to IPV. Clinical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).