In research about narratives of trauma, some linguistic features are associated with worse symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Past studies do not empirically look at the reasons behind these associations. This study examined the mechanisms of two commonly discovered findings in trauma narrative research: cognitive processing language (CPL) associating with fewer PTSD symptoms, and self-referential language (SRL) associating with more PTSD symptoms. There were 185 participants recruited from two parent studies who each wrote a narrative about their most traumatic event, which was analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC). I hypothesized the reason for the association between CPL and lower PTSD symptoms was trait cognitive reappraisal (reevaluating negative thoughts/beliefs), and the association between SRL and higher PTSD symptoms was trait rumination (thinking deeply on negative feelings). I also analyzed other linguistic dimensions as predictor variables of PTSD symptoms (e.g. sensory language and death language). All analyses conducted were linear regressions. There was an insignificant effect for all dimensions, for CPL in the opposite direction as to what was hypothesized, ß = .44, t(157) = 1.82, p > .01, SRL in the same direction as to what was hypothesized, ß = .10, t(157) = 1.21, p > .01, sensory language ß = -.00, t(157) = -.03, p > .01, and death language ß = -.02, t(157) = -.27, p > .01. Results imply that SRL may not be a replacement for ruminatory symptoms as prior research originally theorized
