The present study builds on prior work by investigating the relationships between pregnancy loss and the DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and each of the PTSD symptom clusters, for women and men, after controlling for key contextual factors.

Pregnancy loss can be a devastating experience that has been tied to posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS; Christiansen, 2017). Yet, several gaps exist in the literature regarding pregnancy loss and trauma, including the ties to the DSM-5 PTSD symptom clusters, biological sex differences, and the roles of cumulative trauma and other pregnancy outcomes (i.e., live births, abortions).

Two hundred and ninety-three trauma-exposed individuals ( M _age  = 40.57, SD  = 12.78; 75.4% women) who had been pregnant, or whose partner had been pregnant, participated in the study.

For women, cumulative trauma, more abortions, fewer live births, and pregnancy losses were associated with PTSS. Pregnancy losses were tied to higher levels of intrusive symptoms, and number of abortions and live births also evinced links with several PTSD clusters among women. Yet, for men, only cumulative trauma was tied to PTSS, and pregnancy losses were unrelated to PTSS and the symptom domains.

Pregnancy loss may be related to PTSS and intrusion symptoms only among women. Women with histories of loss and trauma, and who have fewer live births, may report higher levels of PTSS. More work with larger sample sizes of men is needed to better understand the role of pregnancy loss and PTSS, especially accounting for other pregnancy outcomes.