The Role of Discrimination Experiences in Postrape Adjustment Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Women

Abstract

Although recent studies have linked discrimination frequency among Black and Latinx individuals to PTSD symptom severity, to our knowledge, these associations have yet to be examined among a diverse sample of recent rape survivors. The current secondary analysis of existing data examined the role of discrimination experiences in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, and alcohol and drug problems among a racially and ethnically diverse sample of recent rape survivors. Participants were 139 Black (48.2%; n = 67), American Indian (18.7%; n = 26), Hispanic (15.1%; n = 21), and mixed race (17.3%; n = 24) girls and women age 15 or older who presented to the emergency department (ED) for a sexual assault forensic medical exam. They were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions, and completed a six-month postrape follow-up, including questions about mental health, substance use problems, and discrimination experiences. Regression analyses revealed that Black women experienced discrimination in significantly more situations and with greater frequency compared to American Indian and Hispanic women. Discrimination frequency was positively associated with PTSD and depression symptoms even after controlling for age, education, race, and intervention condition, but was not associated with alcohol or drug problems. Findings highlight the importance of attending to the heterogeneous experiences of discrimination among racial and ethnic minority women. Future work should adapt evidence-based early interventions to be maximally effective at combating both racial and sexual trauma exposures.

EQUIP emergency: can interventions to reduce racism, discrimination and stigma in EDs improve outcomes?

“…Each of the PHC clinics identified that those they served often faced poor treatment when accessing care at local EDs. These findings aligned with historical and ongoing evidence of inequitable treatment in EDs for Indigenous people [4,7,33,34], people experiencing violence [35,36], and those presenting with histories of mental illness [37], substance use and/or homelessness [38,39].…”

Age-varying association between discrimination, childhood family support, and substance use disorders among Latin American immigrants in the United States.

“…Similar to previous studies (Salas -Wright et al, 2015-Wright et al, , 2018, items were dichotomized such that participants who reported never or almost never experiencing any form of discrimination were coded as 0 (did not report discrimination in the past year) and those who reported sometimes, fairly often, and very often for any item as 1 (reported experiencing discrimination in the past year). This scale has been applied to Latin American immigrants (Hosler et al, 2019;Walsh et al, 2022).…”

Supporting equitable engagement and retention of women patients in a trauma-informed virtual mental health intervention: Acceptability and needed adaptations.

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