Exposure to trauma can result in attentional changes consistent with increasingly intense rumination and re-experiencing. Patient reports of these attentional changes parallel descriptions of the constructs of dissociation and absorption, each of which have been independently associated with aspects of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Additional research is needed to understand the nature of the relationship of each of dissociation and absorption with posttraumatic stress symptoms. The current study assessed the relationships between dissociation and absorption, using a psychometrically-supported measure designed specifically for researching dissociative and absorbed states of attentional allocation (Attentional Resource Allocation Scale; ARAS) and posttraumatic stress symptom clusters. A clinical sample of people with posttraumatic stress disorder (n=30; 67% women) and an analogue community sample of people reporting traumatic exposure (n=222; 86% women) participated in this study. Trait dissociation, state dissociation, and absorption were expected to differentially predict posttraumatic stress symptom clusters. In addition to supporting the factorial validity of the ARAS, results indicated that absorption and state, but not trait, dissociation were the primary predictors of re-experiencing, avoidance, numbing, and hyperarousal. These results suggest that trait absorption in combination with state dissociation during trauma may be involved in the maintenance of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Comprehensive results, implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.