Effects of Gender and Ethnicity on Duty-Related Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Urban Police Officers

Abstract

We studied 655 urban police officers (21% female, 48% white, 24% black, and 28% Hispanic) to assess ethnic and gender differences in duty-related symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We obtained self-report measures of: a) PTSD symptoms, b) peritraumatic dissociation, c) exposure to duty-related critical incidents, d) general psychiatric symptoms, e) response bias due to social desirability, and f) demographic variables. We found that self-identified Hispanic-American officers evidenced greater PTSD symptoms than both self-identified European-American and self-identified African-American officers. These effects were small in size but they persisted even after controlling for differences in other relevant variables. Contrary to expectation, we found no gender differences in PTSD symptoms. Our findings are of note because: a) they replicate a previous finding of greater PTSD among Hispanic-American military personnel and b) they fail to replicate the well-established finding of greater PTSD symptoms among civilian women.

Acute predator stress impairs the consolidation and retrieval of hippocampus-dependent memory in male and female rats

“…The present findings indicate that an intense, fear-provoking situation produces qualitatively similar deleterious effects on memory in male and female rats. These findings support the notion that memory processing by both sexes is strongly affected in a qualitatively similar manner by traumatic experiences in people (McNally et al 2006) and rodents (Mazor et al 2007), and, further, are consistent with indications that PTSD susceptibility in people under extreme trauma conditions is similar in men and women (Kessler 2000;Pole et al 2001;Galea et al 2002;Kang et al 2005;Nemeroff et al 2006). Therefore, the study of the effects of predator stress on memory may provide insight into sex-independent effects of trauma on human pathological memory processing.…”

PTSD in Latino Patients: Illness Beliefs, Treatment Preferences, and Implications for Care

“…3,[19][20][21] While studies have examined depression in Latinos presenting for primary care, little is known about PTSD in this population. [22][23][24][25] Providing primary care-based treatment for PTSD that is culturally acceptable to Latinos begins with understanding their conceptions ("illness beliefs") about their PTSD.…”

Socio-demographic patterns of posttraumatic stress disorder in Medellin, Colombia and the context of lifetime trauma exposure

“…Moreover, the symptoms Hispanic American combat veterans experienced seemed to be more severe than the symptoms suffered by non-Hispanic combat veterans. 25 The same phenomena regarding PTSD rates and symptom severity were observed among police officers during a survey conducted by Pole et al in 2001. 26 Perilla, Norris and Lavizzo (2002) 27 found that Latino survivors of Hurricane Andrew had higher rates of storm-related PTSD than survivors from other cultural backgrounds.…”

“…25 The same phenomena regarding PTSD rates and symptom severity were observed among police officers during a survey conducted by Pole et al in 2001. 26 Perilla, Norris and Lavizzo (2002) 27 found that Latino survivors of Hurricane Andrew had higher rates of storm-related PTSD than survivors from other cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, in the aftermath of September 11, a survey of New York residents revealed that 14% of Hispanics met criteria for PTSD in contrast to 9% of African Americans and 7% of white, non-Hispanic residents.…”