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Risk Factors
A growing literature has depicted that individuals can be predisposed to PTSD through various pre-traumatic variables, including "cognitive abilities, coping and response styles, personality factors, psychopathology, psychological factors and social ecological factors."

Experiences from Childhood
In a study of Ironson et al. (2019) on men having sex with men, it was shown that the experience of being sexually abused during adolescence was significantly associated with PTSD symptoms later, which happened via self-blame. In addition, child sexual abuse was also shown to be a risk factor of traumatization. Cumulative exposure to violence during childhood was also found to be strongly correlated with PTSD symptoms severity in later adulthood, making it another potential predictor of PTSD in adulthood. People experiencing a trauma would be more likely to develop PTSD and related disorders if they had experienced poverty during childhood.

Personality
A growing literature has been supportive of the notion that some personalities, personality traits, coping styles, or attitudes may be great predictive factors of PTSD and its related symptoms. A study on the secondary traumatic stress disorder (STSD) of a sample of Polish trauma therapists found that there was a significantly positive association between emotional reactivity and STSD. When it comes to specific personality traits, neuroticism and extraversion were shown to be associated with the maintenance of PTSD symptoms among children who were survivors of an earthquake in Wenchuan, China. The relationship between personality traits and post-trauma experiences was found to be mediated by coping styles. Specifically, adaptive coping and trait openness to experiences were positively associated with positive changes post-trauma, whereas maladaptive coping and trait neuroticism were shown to be positively correlated with PTSD symptoms. Neuroticism was also shown to be a risk factor that might contribute to the development of PTSD post-deployment in research done on a sample of Danish soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan.

Lack of Social Support
Low social support has been found to be a potential contributor to PTSD in a wide range of research. A study on survivors of an earthquake in China showed that the relationship between resilience, social support and PTSD symptoms was mediated by anxiety and depression, and that weak social support can be a risk factor of PTSD. For people whose occupations constantly involved experiencing high risks and traumatic events, such as firefighters and soldiers, the levels of social support that they received were negatively correlated with PTSD symptoms. However, a study conducted simultaneously on one sample of civilians and one sample of veterans pointed out a negative correlation between social support of civilians, but not unit support of veterans, and their PTSD symptoms.