The role of predispositions as factors influencing the response to stressors has been debated for decades. This study sheds new light on the issue through epidemiological data from a large representative community sample. The results do not support the assumption that important predispositions play a lesser role when stressors are extreme. Research on other predispositions and alternative event classifications would be illuminating. Given the consistent epidemiological findings that even extreme stressors do not culminate in PTSD in the majority of cases, it should not surprise us to find that predispositions influence the PTSD outcome of a wide range of stressors (Yehuda & McFarlane, 1995). This study suggests, furthermore, that these predispositions influence the outcome of an extreme stressor no less than they do the outcome of less severe stressors.
