Racial Discrimination is Associated with Acute Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Predicts Future Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity in Trauma-Exposed Black Adults in the United States. J Trauma Stress 2021 Oct;34(5):995-1004
Date
03/15/2021Pubmed ID
33715212Pubmed Central ID
PMC9123835DOI
10.1002/jts.22670Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85102362913 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 85 CitationsAbstract
In the United States, Black residents exposed to a traumatic event are at an increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and experiencing more severe symptoms compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Although previous work has suggested a link between racial discrimination and PTSD symptoms, no studies have assessed this association in a sample of traumatic injury survivors. The current study investigated whether (a) past racial discrimination was associated with acute posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and (b) discrimination prospectively contributed to the prediction of future PTSD symptoms. African American and/or Black patients (N = 113) were recruited from an emergency department in southeastern Wisconsin. Patients in the acute postinjury phase (i.e., 2 weeks posttrauma) completed self-report measures, with PTSD symptoms assessed using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale at 6-month follow-up. Bivariate associations indicated past racial discrimination was significantly related to acute PTSS. A multiple regression analysis revealed that pretrauma exposure to racial discrimination significantly predicted PTSD symptoms at follow-up, even after controlling for age, gender, previous psychiatric diagnosis, social support, and lifetime trauma history. Our results suggest that experiences of racial discrimination add significant additional risk for PTSD symptom development following traumatic injury, R2 = .16, F(6, 106) = 3.25, p = .006. Broadly, these findings add to the body of empirical evidence and personal testimonies of Black individuals in White-centric societies asserting that racial discrimination affects mental health and overall well-being and further highlight the recent call for racism to be classified as a public health crisis.
Author List
Bird CM, Webb EK, Schramm AT, Torres L, Larson C, deRoon-Cassini TAAuthors
Andrew T. Schramm PhD Assistant Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of WisconsinTerri A. deRoon Cassini PhD Center Director, Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultHumans
Mental Health
Racism
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Survivors
United States