Affective responses to positive events as a pathway linking posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms to risky behaviors among South Asian Americans

Abstract

South Asian Americans, one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, experience trauma and engage in risky behaviors. South Asian Americans may face cultural pressures to suppress positive affect, which could explain the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and risky behaviors. This study used associational variable analysis to examine whether PTSD symptom severity was associated with risky behaviors and if affective responses to positive events explained variance in this association. South Asian American adults who were exposed to trauma ( N = 244; M _age = 34.26 years, SD = 8.60; 54.9% men) were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Three multivariate linear regressions were conducted, each modeling PTSD symptoms, risky behaviors, and one affective response (i.e., positive emotionality, hedonic deficits, or negative affect interference), controlling for age and gender. Significant models were probed for indirect associations. Many participants met the criteria for probable PTSD (48.0%) and engaged in at least one past‐month risky behavior (79.0%), including problematic technology use, eating behaviors, and alcohol use (55.7%–60.2%). PTSD symptom severity was positively associated with engagement in risky behaviors, R ² = .79, p < .001, and indirect effects were significant via hedonic deficits, β = .07, bootstrapped 95% CI [.03, .12], and negative affect interference, β = .24, bootstrapped 95% CI [.12, .37]. Findings suggest that PTSD symptoms among South Asian Americans may reflect difficulties in experiencing and sustaining positive affect, which may contribute to risky behaviors. Trauma interventions targeting compromised affective responses may reduce risky behaviors in this population.