Late-Term Elective Abortion and Susceptibility to Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Table 4

Results of significant univariate tests for MANOVAs and MANCOVAs performed on individual PTSD items.

PTSD Item	Early Abortion		Late Abortion		P-value
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
	Mean	SE	Mean	SE
Disturbing memories, thoughts, images
Repeated disturbing dreams	.29	.452	.43	.501	$P=.042$
	.30	.031	.48	.078	$P=.033$ *
Reliving abortion	.21	.409	.41	.498	$P=.003$
	.22	.028	.41	.070	$P=.016$ *
Upset with reminder of abortion
Physical reaction when reminded of abortion
Avoided thinking about abortion
Avoided activities that were reminders of the abortion
Trouble remembering parts of abortion
Loss of interest in activities
Felt distant from others
Felt emotionally numb	.57	.496	.74	.443	$P=.029$
Felt future would be cut short because of abortion
Trouble falling or staying asleep	.42	.494	.59	.498	$P=.032$
	.42	.032	.62	.081	$P=.021$ *
Irritable or angry outbursts
Difficulty concentrating
Super alert or watchful since abortion	.32	.466	.52	.505	$P=.007$
Jumpy or easily startled since abortion	.34	.476	.50	.506	$P=.040$

*Controls for race, marital status at the time of the abortion, number of years of formal education, number of abortions, number of years since the target abortion, having received mental health counseling before the abortion, having been hospitalized for emotional problems before the abortion, meaningfulness of the respondent’s religion, and a childhood or adult history of physical or sexual abuse.