No abstract

The stress, resource, and symptom levels of 241 residents of southern Dade County, Florida were assessed 6 and 30 months after Hurricane Andrew. Percentages meeting study criteria for depression and PTSD did not change over time. Whereas mean levels of intrusion and arousal decreased, depressive symptoms remained stable, and avoidance/numbing symptoms actually increased. Intrusion and arousal were associated more strongly with pre-disaster factors (gender, ethnicity) and within-disaster factors (injury, property loss) than with post-disaster factors (stress, resources), but the reverse was true for depression and avoidance. Changes over time in symptoms were largely explained by changes over time in stress and resources. The findings indicate that ongoing services are needed to supplement the crisis-oriented assistance typically offered to disaster victims.

This study examined the predictors of domestic violence within a sample of 60 immigrant Latinas, of whom 30 had sought assistance for abuse and 30 had sought other family services. Hypotheses were derived from several frameworks relevant to understanding abuse—intrapsychic (learned helplessness), interpersonal (family violence), and feminist theory. Findings related to the specific formulations were subsequently combined into a model of abuse in which the mutuality of communication within the couple mediates the effects of husband’s intoxication and environmental stressors on the occurrence/severity of abuse. The study points out the inadequacy of relying on any one existing theory and supports the idea of taking an ecological approach to the study of abuse in specific populations.

Using the writings of the late social psychologist Ignacio Martín-Baró and other Latin American and Latino social scientists as a framework, this article examines the issue of domestic violence from a human rights perspective. As suggested by these writers, the antecedents, dynamics, and effects of domestic abuse are explored, bringing to bear the historical, philosophical, cultural, social, spiritual, and political realities of Latino immigrants in the United States. From this ecological perspective, universal and culture-specific elements of this phenomenon are considered. Finally, Freire’s idea of concientización (consciousness) is used to delineate levels of awareness and responsibility necessary to break the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence in this population.

Prevalence rates of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were estimated from a probability sample of 2,509 adults from 4 cities in Mexico. PTSD was assessed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI; WHO, 1997). Lifetime prevalence of exposure and PTSD were 76% and 11.2%, respectively. Risk for PTSD was highest in Oaxaca (the poorest city), persons of lower socioeconomic status, and women. Conditional risk for PTSD was highest following sexual violence, but nonsexual violence and traumatic bereavement had greater overall impact because of their frequency. Of lifetime cases, 62% became chronic; only 42% received medical or professional care. The research demonstrates the importance of expanding the epidemiologic research base on trauma to include developing countries around the world.