Ethnic Disparities in Trauma-Related Mental Illness: Is Ethnic Identity a Buffer?

Abstract

Despite evidence that racial and ethnic characteristics influence the impact of traumatic exposure on psychological health, little is known about how race and ethnic identity can alter, and possibly protect against, the effects of trauma on the psychiatric diagnoses of women. Therefore, the present study examined the moderating role of race/ethnicity and ethnic identity in the link between trauma exposure and psychiatric diagnosis for African American and Caucasian college women. Participants were a sample of 242 women from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States who self-identified as African American or Black (31%) and European American or Caucasian (69%; M age = 19.5 years). Interviews were conducted over the phone to screen for trauma, followed by longer in-person interviews. Each of the interviewers was supervised, and interviews were reviewed to control for quality. Regression analyses revealed that the number of traumatic events was a stronger predictor of lifetime psychiatric diagnoses for Caucasian women. In addition, ethnic identity served as a protective factor against trauma exposure among participants. The findings suggest that ethnic identity is a relevant buffer against potential psychiatric diagnoses as result of exposure to traumatic events for both Caucasian and African American women.

Religiosity, Social Support, and Ethnic Identity: Exploring “Resilience Resources” for African-American Women Experiencing HIV-Related Stigma

“…Table 1 describes characteristics of women included in the present study, overall and by site. The median age was 46 years (interquartile range (IQR) = [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]), and the majority (63%) had at least a high school education.…”

“…[47][48][49] Specifically, research indicates that this strong sense of ethnic identity may serve to promote resilience in situations of stigma and discrimination. 50,51 Among African Americans, greater ethnic identity is associated with lower anxiety, depression and psychological stress and greater coping, optimism and self-esteem. 31,52,53 Moreover, among a sample of young African-American women, stronger ethnic identity wasassociated with less HIV-related risk-taking, 54 and in a sample of (predominately African-American) women living with HIV, greater ethnic identity was associated with less perceived stress.…”

Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measurement invariance across adolescence and diverse ethnic groups

“…Based on indings from young adult studies that have utilized more stringent tests of invariance, there is evidence to suggest comparisons across ethnic groups based on MEIM scores may not be valid (Yap et al, 2014(Yap et al, , 2016. Such indings call into question the validity of the wide-spread use of the MEIM to compare ethnic groups (Carter et al, 2018;Dandy et al, 2008;Gummadam et al, 2016;Rahim-Williams et al, 2007;Townsend et al, 2020), and provide the impetus to further examine the measurement structure and invariance in an adolescent population. The identiication of the measurement invariance of the MEIM across ethnic groups and developmental periods is critical to ensure the appropriate use of the measure as well as the validity of the results of studies that use the measure in this way.…”

Childhood trauma and the role of ethnic pride and interpersonal relationships among Latina mothers.

“…Cultural beliefs and values have been found to influence the way an individual understands and gives meaning to a traumatic event (Townsend, Kaltman, Saleem, Coker-Appiah, & Green, 2017). Pérez Benítez and colleagues (2010) suggested that social stigma and perception of traumatic events based on one's cultural background may play a role in understanding the consequences of This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”