Posttraumatic Stress Among Victimized Latino Women: Evaluating the Role of Cultural Factors

• NCJ Number: 249650
• Author(s): C. A. Cuevas, C. Sabina, H. Picard
• Date Published: December 2015
• Length: 8 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Sexual Assasult Among Latinas (SALAS) Project

Annotation

Since research on victimization and posttraumatic symptomatology among Latinos is lacking in the extant literature, this study analyzed the victimized subsample (N = 752) of the Sexual Assault Among Latinas Study, so as to assess victimization prevalence and test the following hypotheses: (a) that victimization would be associated with higher levels of posttraumatic symptoms, (b) that cultural factors that move away from traditional Latino culture would be associated with higher levels of posttraumatic symptomatology, and (c) that cultural factors associated with traditional Latino culture would be related to lower posttraumatic symptomatology.

Abstract

The Average age of the sample was 44.57 years, with three-fourths having a high school education or higher, and two-thirds having a household income below $30,000. Of exposure types, adulthood threats were most likely to result in Criterion A traumatic events (23.4 percent). Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., Text Rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) based PTSD Checklist, between 8.8 percent and 45.5 percent of individuals met presumed PTSD diagnosis based on various PCL cut scores or algorithm criteria. Regression analyses indicated that the combined different types of adult and childhood victimizations, masculine gender role, and negative religious coping were associated with increased symptoms (âs ranging from .16 to .27). The results suggest a cultural role in posttraumatic symptoms for Latinas. (Publisher abstract modified)