Examining posttraumatic stress symptoms in a national sample of homicide survivors: Prevalence and comparison to other violence victims

Abstract

The present study examined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among friends and family members of homicide victims (homicide survivors). Out of a national sample of 1,753 young adults who completed follow-up interviews after participating in the National Survey of Adolescents, 268 homicide survivors and 653 victims of other interpersonal violence were selected for the study. Participants completed structured telephone interviews that covered the loss of a family member or close friend to homicide, violence exposure, and PTSD symptomatology. Findings indicated that 39% of homicide survivors met criteria for all 3 symptom clusters and 30% of homicide survivors met criteria for 2 PTSD clusters (functional impairment was not assessed). Multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that homicide survivors were more likely than victims of other violence to meet criteria for all 3 PTSD symptom clusters (OR = 1.91, p < .05) and 2 symptom clusters (OR = 1.77, p < .05) when demographic characteristics and number of violent events were included in the model. These findings highlight the high prevalence of subthreshold PTSD symptoms among homicide survivors. Results suggest that homicide survivors are at elevated risk for PTSD symptoms in comparison to victims of other interpersonal violence.

Survivors of Homicide: Mental Health Outcomes, Social Support, and Service Use Among a Community-Based Sample

“…The deleterious and potentially chronic effects of violence (e.g., PTSD, depression) on individuals whose family members were murdered have been well documented in prior epidemiological studies (e.g., Rheingold et al, 2012;Zinzow et al, 2011;Zinzow et al, 2009). Few studies have examined PTSD, MDD, and CG within the same sample; the relationship between these disorders; factors that are associated with risk/resiliency; and knowledge and use of services.…”

“…Few studies have actually examined rates of mental health outcomes among homicide survivors using formal diagnostic assessments of PTSD, depression, or CG, although population-based studies using assessments based on established diagnostic criteria suggest that as many as 9% of adolescents and 4.8% of adults meet criteria for PTSD in the wake of homicide (AmickMcMullan, Kilpatrick, & Resnick, 1991;Rheingold et al, 2012). Furthermore, homicide survivors were more likely than other violence victims to meet criteria for subthreshold PTSD and full PTSD (Zinzow, Rheingold, Byczkiewicz, Saunders, & Kilpatrick, 2011).…”

Repercussões do homicídio em famílias das vítimas: uma revisão da literatura

“…Psychology and psychiatry have produced most studies on the situation of individuals who have lost a loved one by homicide. Many of these studies have sought to understand and measure, from different approaches, the mental and physical impact of deaths by homicide in the lives of families, focusing mainly on traumatic reactions, from a disease model associated with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression 7,8,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]27 .…”

Prolonged grief symptomatology following violent loss: the mediating role of meaning

“…These unique features of the violent death story may impede meaning making as they challenge particularly core or fundamental orienting beliefs about the world as a safe and fair place where events are somewhat predictable and happen for a reason (Currier, Holland, & Neimeyer, 2009; Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Lichtenthal, Currier, Neimeyer, & Keesee, 2010). As result, there is an ongoing struggle to make meaning of the violent death story, often experienced in terms of intrusive negative thoughts or imagery related to the death event (Baddeley et al, 2015; Ehlers & Clark, 2000; Rheingold, Zinzow, Hawkins, Saunders, & Kilpatrick, 2012; Rynearson & Correa, 2008; Steil & Ehlers, 2000; Zinzow, Rheingold, Byczkiewicz, Saunders, & Kilpatrick, 2011). We propose that incongruence between the violent death story and the perception of the world as fair, predictable, and safe is likely to disrupt meaning associated with the sense of peace subscale of the GMRI.…”