Given the heterogeneous nature of PTSD and the results of our study, perhaps one specific pathway to developing PTSD symptoms could be investigated by linking trauma type, specifically nonsexual assaultive trauma, to cognitive function. Individuals who have been exposed to nonsexual assaultive trauma are more likely to develop PTSD compared to those exposed to nonassaultive trauma (Cisler et al., 2011; Kessler et al., 2005; Ozer et al., 2003; Resnick et al., 1993), and poor executive functioning has been observed among individuals with PTSD (Flaks et al., 2014; Olff et al., 2014). Therefore, it is possible that the poor executive functioning observed in individuals with PTSD may be influenced by a specific trauma type, which the current study suggests may be nonsexual assaultive trauma. This suggests that physical traumatic exposure, such as nonsexual assaultive trauma, when experienced during the critical developmental period of adolescence, may influence the development of the prefrontal cortex and lead to poor problem‐solving skills. While this association was observed in the full sample, in the sex‐stratified analysis, this association was only significant in female participants who have
