Clinical assessment of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American minorities who served in Vietnam

Trauma exposure and posttraumatic reactions in a community sample of Bedouin members of the Israel Defense Forces

“…Data indicated differential rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological disorders, differences in vocational, social, educational, physical, and health adjustment as well as disparity in health services utilization. [1] Psychological assessments of the American troops mobilized in Operation Desert Storm, who were of a more diverse ethnic and gender mix than in previous military operations, supported previously documented associations between ethnicity and vulnerability to psychological risk after war-zone duty. [2] Indeed, it is possible that these differences in epidemiological rates of PTSD are a function of fundamentally different experiences that veterans from minority backgrounds may have during service, such as higher levels of combat stressors [3] and exposure to adverse race-related events, [4,5] as well as added difficulties in the readjustment period after discharge, [6] including disparities in service connection for PTSD disability.…”

An overview of posttraumatic stress disorder in African Americans

“…Stress related to trauma (whether veteran or civilian) from racism and stressors from poor living conditions likely compound the expression of psychopathology in African Americans (Penk & Allen, 1991). Race-related stressor measurements would also include measures of prejudice and discrimination (Loo et al, 2001).…”

Race‐related PTSD: The Asian American Vietnam veteran

“…While racist attitudes of American soldiers have been described, the effects of this racism on Vietnam veterans of Asian ancestry have not been systematically studied. Penk and Allen (1991) criticized the authors of the W R S study for analyzing only one question about racial prejudice and for not examining the possible contributions of racial prejudice to the readjustment of minority combat veterans. Penk and Allen (1991) also criticized Egendorf et al (1981) for not touching upon the effects of prejudice or minority status in their recommendations despite their finding of higher numbers of stress symptoms among Blacks compared to whites.…”

“…Penk and Allen (1991) criticized the authors of the W R S study for analyzing only one question about racial prejudice and for not examining the possible contributions of racial prejudice to the readjustment of minority combat veterans. Penk and Allen (1991) also criticized Egendorf et al (1981) for not touching upon the effects of prejudice or minority status in their recommendations despite their finding of higher numbers of stress symptoms among Blacks compared to whites. It has been suggested that ethnic minority Vietnam veterans had a greater tendency to sympathize with the Vietnamese (Laufer et al, 1984) and experienced greater complications or greater readjustment needs than white soldiers (Parson, 1985;Penk and Allen, 1991).…”

“…Penk and Allen (1991) also criticized Egendorf et al (1981) for not touching upon the effects of prejudice or minority status in their recommendations despite their finding of higher numbers of stress symptoms among Blacks compared to whites. It has been suggested that ethnic minority Vietnam veterans had a greater tendency to sympathize with the Vietnamese (Laufer et al, 1984) and experienced greater complications or greater readjustment needs than white soldiers (Parson, 1985;Penk and Allen, 1991). It has also been suggested that greater readjustment problems of ethnic minority veterans are related to their more marginal status in American society (Parson, 1985;Penk and Allen, 1991).…”