No abstract

Most of our understanding of, and interventions with, trauma are focused on past traumas perpetrated by individuals. Because of this individualistic-based paradigm, most research on oppression adopts an interpersonal violence framework, ignoring the other identity-based variables involved in intergroup trauma. In this study, we test a new paradigm of oppression as perpetration of trauma between groups, including the variables of will to survive and related coping strategies. The new model assumes that collective trauma of oppression brings to the individual’s focus his or her collective identity and triggers identity annihilation and subjugation anxiety that drive mental health distress. On the other hand, will to survive engenders various strategies, which serve to address oppression challenges and to cope with such distress. We tested the model on a sample of 438 Palestinian adolescents (aged 12 to 19 years; 45.4% females) from the West Bank. We measured life traumas—including oppression, poverty, and will to survive—as independent variables, and identity salience, annihilation anxiety, and coping strategies as mediating variables. We measured posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, depression, and physical health as outcome variables. Results of path analysis confirmed the general model and indicated that religious coping, political ideology, and social support contributed to reducing mental distress, with religiosity as the strongest predictor, which may explain the electoral success of Islamists in the Palestinian election of 2006 and elections following the Arab Spring. The implications of the results for conflict resolution and in clinical interventions with intergroup trauma victims are discussed.

The current research and clinical focus on single traumas fails to assess numerous important trauma dynamics including trauma proliferation. In this study, 2 trauma proliferation pathways were identified that utilize a developmentally based trauma framework (DBTF). Data previously collected from 6 different cultural groups (N = 2279; 2 mental health clinics in Egypt and the United States, Native Americans, Palestinian adults in Gaza, and college students in Poland and Egypt) were reanalyzed. The 6 studies utilized DBTF-based measures of cumulative trauma and trauma types. Path analysis was used to test the trauma proliferation model and PROCESS software was used to identify mediators and their effect sizes. Results of the analyses indicated that attachment trauma and collective identity trauma independently predicted (directly and through mediators) personal identity trauma, role identity trauma, secondary trauma, and survival trauma. The pattern of proliferation was configurally invariant across the 6 groups and strictly invariant across genders. Implications for the consideration of trauma global dynamics, such as trauma proliferation, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Development-based trauma framework (DBTF) identified collective identity stressors and traumas (CISTs) and other trauma types, such as personal identity traumas (PITs), physical identity or survival trauma (PISTs), preidentity such as attachment traumas, and postidentity or secondary trauma (IST). We utilized pooled data from 9 samples from different minorities, refugees, and other victims of CIST (N ϭ 2471) that used measures of cumulative trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs), and existential anxieties (EAAs). PROCESS macro (Models 4, 6, and 7) was used to analyze CIST direct, mediated, and moderated effects, and the serial trajectories of its mediators. We found significant direct effects of CIST on PTSD, CTD, and EAA, in addition to mediated indirect effects Editor's Note. Continue the conversation by submitting your comments and questions about this article/book review to PeacePsychology .org/peaceconflict. (The Editor of PeacePsychology.org reserves the right to exclude material that fails to contribute to constructive discussion.)