Appetitive Aggression And Its Relation To Posttraumatic Stress In Burundian Ex-Combatants

Former combatants have experienced many traumatic events and violence in their past. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are prevalent among them, but at the same time, many combatants do not suffer from PTSD. Appetitive aggression-the perception of violent acts as appealing and exciting-was found to reduce the risk of developing PTSD symptoms in several studies with combatants of different countries. However, this protective influence waned when traumatization of combatants got too severe. The aim of the present study was to replicate previous findings in a sample of Burundian ex-combatants. The relationship between appetitive aggression and PTSD symptom severity was investigated, and a negative correlation between these variables was expected. On the basis of previous studies, we expected to find this relationship only after excluding the most traumatized participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 392 Burundian ex-combatants to assess traumatic event types, self-committed violent acts, PTSD symptom severity (PTSD Symptom Scale Interview) and appetitive aggression (Appetitive Aggression Scale). Appetitive aggression was not correlated with PTSD symptoms severity in the total sample. After the most severely traumatized participants were excluded, appetitive aggression was negatively related to PTSD symptom severity. The findings of the present study confirmed previous findings on the relationship between appetitive aggression and PTSD. Appetitive aggression was shown to lower PTSD symptom severity but is no ultimate protection against PTSD.